Peace of Mind
by Tom Felton Lover999
Summary: Zuko was banished with the girl of his dreams. They are more alike than they thought. Now they know that the Avatar has returned. But Harmony doesn't seem to want to go home as much as Zuko. Will her bitterness destroy her? Or will Prince Zuko be able to save her from herself?
1. Chapter 1

"Harmony, my dear." I glanced up from my book to see my mother looking at me with such worry. "Yes, mother." I knew that there was a meeting today about the whereabouts of the Avatar and of the war that never seem to go away. "The Fire Lord wants to speak with you." My eyes widen, I had heard from Princess Azula that Prince Zuko had gotten in trouble for speaking out during the meeting. I heard that Zuko had asked for an Agni Kai and was now in the infirmary. "About what, mother?"

"I do not know, my dear." She turned her head and left the room with not another word. I stood up and made sure my braid was still neat. I took a deep breath and walked out of the door. The Fire Lord knew my father. My father was killed during battle and the Fire Lord asked us to move into the capital out of respect. I knew the only reason he asked my mother to come is because my mother was a very beautiful woman. Her black hair was thick and shined when if she had not washed it that day. Her eyes were a beautiful gold. I looked very much like her with my father's featured mixed in.

I stood in front of the guards and they simply stepped aside for me to enter. I took a deep breath and walked into the room with all the confidence I could muster in my small frame. I saw the flames that were between me and the Fire Lord. I got down on my knees and pressed my forehead into the cold tile floor. My hand gripped the ground praying silently that I had not done anything to anger him.

"Harmony, I assume you have heard what happened to my son?" I lifted my head but still remained on my knees. "Yes, my Lord." I kept my eyes on the flames in front of me. I refused to meet his eyes. "I have decided on a punishment for him. I shall banish him from the Capital until he finds the Avatar." I did not speak. Prince Zuko would never find the Avatar and he knew that. He disowned his own son! I felt disgusted, but I didn't dare let that show on my face.

"General Iroh tells me of how great your skills are on firebending." He was making small talk. "Almost as great as my daughter." I could just feel that smirk that graced his face. "Princess Azula is pure greatness, my Lord." I hated her. She was always so mean and cruel. She never left me alone.

"I will need you to go with Prince Zuko, Harmony." My eyes shot up to look at his dead ones. Why? What had I done? Then I realized, I was a threat. With me around, he could not get close to my mother and I was outshining his own daughter. He simply wanted me out of the picture. He stared at me. He was looking to see if I would argue with him. He wanted me dead.

"As you wish, my Lord. When will I be leaving?" I asked trying to keep my voice as calm as I could. As much as I wanted to jump up and scream that I would not leave, I knew I wanted my life. "As soon as Prince Zuko is healed. You may go." I bowed once again and got up walking quickly away from the Fire Lord. The second I stepped out I was grabbed and shoved up against a wall. I grunted and was about to firebend, when I saw Princess Azula smirking down at me.

"It's sad that the only person when close to being as good as me is being banished." I pushed her off of me easily and glared at her. "You had something to do with this, didn't you?" I hissed. She smirked and leaned against the wall. "Of course, I did. We do not want you to be able to overpower me." Overpower her? What is she talking about? I wasn't in line to the throne. I had no royal blood in me, why did she think I would overpower her? Prince Zuko would get the throne before her.

"If only you were as smart as you were beautiful." I growled and formed daggers of fire from my hands. "Lady Harmony!" I let go of my anger and turned around to face General Iroh. I bowed my head out of respect and backed away from Princess Azula. Azula was standing there with a giant smirk on her face. She knew she won.

"Princess Azula, continue on your way." Azula bowed her head and walked away. "Harmony, go pack. We will be leaving in the morning." I sighed and walked away. I walked back into our house and my mother was holding a picture frame with her tears falling freely from her face. I noticed that all of my belongings were packed and ready to leave. She did know. She lied to me. She looked up at me and I stared back at her.

"You knew." I whispered. "The Fire Lord says you are too much to handle." She cast her eyes away from me and I felt my anger weld up in my chest. I knew I needed to learn how to control my anger, but that wasn't the reason he was sending me away.

"You know that is not true." I snapped glaring at her. Did she even fight for her daughter to stay? "He is in love with you and he is afraid that he will not be able to get his daughter on throne if I'm around." She didn't answer me. I gathered up my belongings and reached the door. "Goodbye Mother." I whispered opening the door. I heard her choke out a sob before I left. I walked to the infirmary and saw in a chair next to Prince Zuko's bed. I watched him sleep.

He had a bandage over his left eye. I could never understand how a father could do this to his son. The Fire Lord was a cruel man; Azula was her father's daughter for sure. This war should have ended long ago, but the Fire Lord was not going to stop till he had complete control over each nation.

I still remembered when we moved into the Capital when I was six. I had locked eyes with Prince Zuko and fell in love from the moment I saw him. He was a very handsome boy. Now we were both thirteen and about to be send off from home.

"I really don't enjoy you staring at me." His voice was still thick with sleep. "Sorry, Prince Zuko." I bowed my head and looked away from him. "Harmony, why are you not with your mother?" General Iroh asked stepping into the room.

"She doesn't seem to want me around." I muttered not meeting either of their eyes. I was about to exiled with these two. The stubborn Prince and most popular General in all of the Fire Nation, what was I to them? Just a peasant. My father was the only reason they knew my name. They also knew me because of my anger. This was going to be horrible.


	2. Chapter 2

I dodged as the fire shot past my head. "You seem to losing your touch, Zuko." I said smirking. He growled and charged me. I easily dodged him and shot him down with a snap of my wrist. "Very good, Harmony!" General Iroh cheered. I smiled and held out my hand to help up Zuko. He smacked my hand away and stood on his own. I rolled my eyes and walked over to the rail of the ship. Three years I have been on this ship. We have been everywhere to look for the Avatar. I didn't get why Zuko still held onto the hope of finding him. He was dead and has been for a hundred years. There was no hope of finding him. I had given up on that dream long ago.

"I'm tired of learning the basics. If I'm going to fight the Avatar, Harmony and I need to be able to use the most complex tricks." Zuko snapped. I sighed and rested my head on my arms. "Give it a rest. You know he's going to say the same thing like always." I hissed not even looking in Zuko's direction. I could just feel his glare on me.

General Iroh began to explain why knowing the basic were so important. I hated being in the cold. I was tired of chasing this thing that did not exist. I was about to give up and go inside when a bright blue light shot into the sky.

"Zuko! Look!" I yelled. Zuko rushed to my side and I pointed up to the sky. "Men, follow that light!" Zuko yelled. He paused and looked down at me. I felt my heart beat in my ears. He placed his hand on my cheek, "You're ice." He whisper running his thumb over my cheek. I felt a blush heat up my face and pulled my head away from him. "That has to be the Avatar, right?" I whispered.

"Yes. Let's go get dressed." He walked away from me and I sighed. I glanced back up at the light then at Zuko's back. He was the most stubborn person I have ever met. He also had to be the most handsome sixteen year old I have ever seen. Why must I like him? I pushed myself off of the rail and walked back to my room to get dressed.

000

I stood to next to Zuko as we docked. "Now just stay close to me. We don't know how dangerous this could get" Zuko said rejusting his helmet. I rolled my eyes; he was always so protective over me when he really didn't need to be. I could take care of myself just fine. Just as we lowered the ramp, I heard a warrior cry and saw a boy about my age charge us. Zuko stepped in front of me and easily pushed the warrior away from us. He landed in the snow and I couldn't help, but snort. Zuko walked over to an elderly woman and grabbed her.

"We are looking for the Avatar. He should be about this old and have arrows all along his body. Where is he?" Zuko yelled. I glanced around at the people. They all had looks of confusion on their faces. They had no idea what Zuko was talking about. "Zuko, they don't have a clue." I snapped grabbing his wrist.

I heard the warrior cry and pushed him into the snow again. "Knock it off, kid" I hissed as he jumped up again. He pulled out a boomerang and threw it. Zuko ducked and rolled his eyes. The boomerang made its way back and smacked Zuko on the back of the head knocking off his helmet.

I snorted and Zuko shot me a look. I noticed something shooting towards Zuko and me, but before I could mention it. It knocked my feet out of me. I landed right on top of Zuko, who was also knocked over. I was face to face with Zuko and I could just feel the blush forming across my cheeks. He helped me up and in front of us stood a kid. He had to be at least twelve.

He was bald with a blue arrow on his head. My eyes widen when I realized, this was the Avatar. "You are the Avatar?! You're just a child." I said. He glared at him and began to move his staff around. I shot a blast of fire at him, but his wind knocked me to the ground. Zuko shot some fire at him and I heard the crowd around me scream in terror.

"Wait! If I go with you, will you leave these people alone?" Zuko just nodded and the guards snatched the Avatar up. Zuko walked over to me and helped me up. "You okay?" I just nodded. He brushed the snow off my back and nudged me forward. "Aang! Don't do this!" A water tribe girl ran forward, but was quickly grabbed by the warrior. She was a pretty little thing. "Don't worry, Katara. Take care of Appa for me till I get back."

000

"We just capture the Avatar! We are going home, Harmony." Zuko smiled leaning against the rail staring out over the ocean. "Zuko, you know I'm not excited about going home." I said jumping up and sitting down on the rail.

He placed his hand on my knee. He had to be the most confusing boy, I have ever met. One minute he was showing that he might actually like me and then the next he acted as if he hates me. I loved him with my whole heart. I was tired of hiding it. "Zuko, how do you feel about me?" He looked up at me and blushed. He was about to open his mouth, "The Avatar has escape!" I heard General Iroh yell. Just as that was yelled the Avatar ran on deck.

He looked at me and twirled his staff around knocking me off the rail. I screamed, and felt someone grab my ankle. Zuko quickly yanked me up and I let out a growl. I rushed towards him and kicked him with a fire kick. He slammed into the rail and stood up. He used his staff again to block Zuko's attack. Zuko and I began to attack the airbender. He slammed his staff on the ground causing Zuko and I to fly off the ship. I screamed and Zuko grabbed the back of my shirt.

He pulled me up and I grabbed onto the anchor just below Zuko. I saw a great flying bison landed on the ship. Zuko and I climbed up the anchor. General Iroh pulled Zuko up and then me. The flying bison was flying off with the Avatar on his back along with the water tribe girl named Katara and the warrior.

"Shoot him down." I and he along with some guards shot up some fireballs. The Avatar jumped up from the bison and shot our fireballs into the mountain. It hit and snow came down. "Harmony!" Zuko wrapped his arms around me and pulled me to the ground. We looked up and the ship was completely under snow.

"Dig the ship out!" Zuko yelled to at the guards. I noticed that Zuko's arms were still wrapped around me. I blushed and tried pushing him off of me, but he didn't move. "Harmony, are you alright?" He brushed my hair back away from my face.

I pushed him off of me. I didn't understand him. Why couldn't he just tell me how he really felt about me? Did he like me the way I liked him or did he just enjoy me because I was a girl his age? I looked down at the ground, "I'm fine, Zuko. I'm going to go take a bath." I whispered walking away from him.

"What is her problem?" Zuko asked gently. "Perhaps she is tired of hiding her feelings." General Iroh said nudging Zuko. I glanced at Zuko and he looked at Iroh like he had no idea what he was talking about. I slammed the door behind me knowing fully aware, Zuko would never understand me.


	3. Chapter 3

"Alright, we need to make this fast." Zuko said as we climbed off the ship. "Where do you think the Avatar has gone?" I asked, he whipped around and glared at me. "Do not mention that name on these docks. I don't want anyone knowing." I nodded and sighed, and there goes the sweet Zuko.

"Prince Zuko, what shall we say damaged our ship?" Iroh asked. Zuko stopped to glare at Iroh and I walked into an armor chest. I bounced off the person and landed on the ground. I rubbed my head as Iroh helped me up from the ground. I looked up at Commander Zhao. I gulped and stood closer to Iroh. Commander Zhao always did creep me out. He was always telling my mother what a great wife I will make. "Yes Prince Zuko, what did happen to your ship?" He sneered.

"Um, Uncle tell him!" Zuko stuttered nudging Iroh forward. "Uh, we ran into an Earth Kingdom ship." Iroh said rubbing the back of his neck nervously. Commander Zhao smirked and looked over at me bowing his head slightly. "Lady Harmony, would you like to join me for tea?" I stared at him and Zuko stepped in front of me blocking Commander Zhao from seeing me.

"We really must be going." Zuko grabbed my wrist and was about to drag me away when Commander Zhao stepped in front of him. "Do you have Jasmine Tea? That is my favorite." Iroh asked stepping forward. He knew as well as Zuko that Zhao wasn't going to let us go. He was up to something. He smirked and nodded as we followed him back to his tent.

"So Prince Zuko, how has your search for the Avatar coming along?" Zhao asked. He knew. He had to know. "Nothing. We haven't found anything." Zuko said as Zhao pulled opened the flap of the tent. We walked in and Zhao pulled me up a seat forcing me to take a seat. Zuko sat quickly beside me and stared angrily at the floor. I kept my eyes to the wall and block out Zhao's voice.

"If my father thinks that the nations will give in to him. He is a fool" I looked away from the wall and at Zuko. "The nations just want this to end, they are angry at him for not ending this… What makes him think they will go running to him? Lives have been lost and he still has enemies." I snapped out. Zhao whipped around and glared at me. He had daggers of fire forming in his hands, but I held my glaze. He wasn't going to be able to scare me so easily.

"You are a woman. You have no opinion." He yelled. I jumped up and was about to hit him when guards grabbed me by the arms.

"Watch your tongue." I hissed fire whipping out of my mouth. He chuckled and grabbed my chin roughly. "Such a feisty girl." I saw Zuko jump up and was also grabbed by guards. "Do not touch her!"

"Do you think she belongs to you, Prince Zuko?" Commander Zhao was trying to get Zuko to snap. I looked at him and shook my head quickly telling him not to let him get to him. Zuko didn't say anything, but Iroh stepped forward. "Harmony does not belong to any man. I suggest you show her some respect. We will be leaving now." The guards slowly released Zuko and me. Iroh wrapped his arms protectively around me and we began to walk out when another guard stopped us.

"Commander, we interviewed the crew like you asked. They say that Prince Zuko had captured the Avatar, but he escaped." My eyes widen and I felt Iroh's arms tighten around my shoulders. "Prince Zuko, what really happened to your ship?" Zhao hissed placing his hand on Zuko's shoulder.

000

I was sitting back in my chair. I had my arms crossed angrily over my chest and was trying to calm down. We had been sitting in this stupid tent for hours when were we going to be able to leave this tent. The flap of the tent opened and Zhao walking in with a giant smirk on his face. "You will be able to go back onto your ship once I am on my way to capture the Avatar."

"Are you afraid I will be able to stop you?" Zuko hissed out glaring up at the Commander. He laughed and shook his head, "You wouldn't be able to stop me if you tried. You are a banished Prince. You are no threat."

Zuko jumped up and I jumped up quickly grabbing Zuko's arm. "Do not underestimate me! I challenge you to an Agni Kai at sunset!" Zhao smirked and stepped closer to him. "So be it." He left the tent and Zuko lightly pushed me away from him. I glared and plopped back down in my seat. He was going to get himself killed. Why couldn't he just watch his mouth?!

"Zuko, remember last you challenge someone to an Agni Kai?" Iroh yelled. Zuko looked down sadly at the ground and placed his finger tips to his scar on his face. I soften and went to stood up to comfort him when Iroh stopped me.

"I will never forget." He muttered. I still remembered Azula running up to me asking me to join her to watch the Agni Kai. I walked into the room and saw it was the Fire Lord against Zuko. I backed out of the room before having to watch the horror. An hour later, I was told by my mother to visit the Fire Lord. He banished me along with his own son. I will never forget watching Zuko cry as the ship left Fire Nation. I would never forget the way my mother looked at me as I left.

000

"Remember the basic, Zuko. They will help you greatly." General Iroh said to Zuko as he prepared for the Agni Kai. Zuko looked over at me, "I won't let him win, Harmony."

"Do me a favor. Make sure you kick his ass for me. I am tired of all those comments he has made towards me." I said smiling placing my hand on his biceps. He nodded and I couldn't help, but notice the muscle underneath my hand. He knelt down with his back towards Zhao and they both stood up. The blanket that was over Zuko's shoulders dropped to the ground and I tried not to stare at his tone body.

Sure, I have seen Zuko shirtless many times, but I never seemed to get over it. I glanced down at the ground quickly and I heard Iroh chuckle beside me. I glared at him and watched as Zuko dodged one of Zhao's fire punch. I twisted my hands nervously around as Zuko battled Zhao. Zhao knocked him to the ground and my heart stopped. _Get up, Zuko._

Zuko kicked Zhao's feet out from underneath him and began his attack. Zhao was on the ground and Zuko was standing over him. "Do it!" Zhao screamed. Zuko shot fire right at him, but didn't hit him.

"Next time, I won't miss. I do not get in my way." Zuko hissed and turned away. I walked towards him and I saw Zhao jump up. I ran towards Zuko. Iroh grabbed Zhao's foot and shoved him away.

"My nephew has more honor than you."

Zuko growled and began to charge Commander Zhao when I grabbed his arm. "No! Keep your honor." I yelled stepping in front of him pushing him back gently. I yanked him away from Zhao and General Iroh followed.

"Did you really mean that, Uncle?" Zuko asked as we walked back onto our ship. "Of course I did. Now I am going to go take a nap." He yawned and walked towards his room. I leaned against the rail and watched as we set off again. I felt eyes on me and turned around to see Zuko staring at me. "You always seem to go into a trace when we are on the water."

"The water is peaceful." I said simply turning back around watching at the water slapped against the boat. Fire was deadly and you can't control once you release it. Fire hurts and burns people. I felt like a was cursed. When people find out you're a firebending, they look at you differently. They treat you like a dangerous weapon and they are right. "You asked me a question. You asked me what my feelings for you were." He leaned against the rail and rested his elbows on the rail looking down at the water. I looked up at him and sighed. I was waiting to hear him say he didn't care for me.

"I'm not going to lie, Harmony. You are a gorgeous. You are a wonderful and powerful bender. You are so full of wisdom. I would be a fool not to like you." My eyes widen and I stared at him. Did he just say he liked me? He took a deep breath and I knew he wasn't finished yet. "I can't focus on a relationship with you while I hunt down the Avatar."

I growled and gripped the rail. "You are so stupid. Do you really think if you do capture the Avatar, he's going to welcome you back with open arms? Your father burnt your face. I could have been a prisoner instead of being banished, but I kept my mouth shut because I wanted to be with you!" I hissed punching the rail. I backed away from him and shook my head at him. His obsession with the Avatar was going to cause me to hate him and that really scared me.

"Harmony, come on!" He grabbed my arm pulling me to a stop. "He is going to bring our honor back." His eyes soften like he was begging me to believe him.

"Your honor, maybe. You'll get your throne back and your father… But I will probably be sent off again, so I don't outshine your sister. I'm nothing, but a problem in your father's eyes." I hissed yanking my arm out of his grasp. He didn't get it. He didn't understand me. He liked me because of my looks and my bending.

He didn't know who I was. He didn't want to know who I was. I was just a pretty face to him.


	4. Chapter 4

"Harmony?" I looked up from my mediation to see General Iroh pocking his head into my room. "Yes, Iroh?" I had been in my room since the little fight between Zuko and myself. I didn't want to see him and I really didn't want to talk to him. "I have some bad news for Zuko, so do you mind coming with me? He seems to be a lot calmer when you are present." I stood up and brushed down my pants. I followed him to Zuko's room and he poked his head in.

"Prince Zuko?"

"Uncle, I am mediating. I do not want to be interrupted unless it has to do with the Avatar." Zuko spoke calmly and I pushed open the door even more, so I could step into his room. He stared at me for a moment then went back to deeply breathing. "I do not want you to get angry" Iroh said gripping the door a little. I crossed my arms and smirked. I wanted to see how Zuko handled this.

"I am completely calm." Zuko breathed out. I snorted, and I saw him tense up. "We have no idea where the Avatar is" Iroh said quickly. Zuko jumped up and screamed. His candles shot up to the ceiling and went back down as he breathed in quickly staring at me.

He pushed Iroh out of the way and stormed out of his room. "Well I think he took that well." Iroh said sighing. I stepped out of Zuko's room and followed Zuko. "We should probably make sure he doesn't murder anyone." I called over my shoulder. Iroh nodded and quickly caught up with me. Zuko slammed his way into the room snatching up the map. The crew glared at him, but their faces soften as they saw me. Why did everyone think if I walk into the room Zuko would chill out?

"Harmony, come look at this?" I pushed myself off the wall and took the map into my hands. There were little dots around the map and I guess that's where the Avatar has been spotted. It was zigzagged everywhere. "He is obviously a great traveler." Zuko said snatching the map out of my hands. "Zuko, he's twelve. Trust me, he's going to mess up and that's when you'll capture him. Just be patience." I patted him on his arm and took the map back. I rolled it up and gave it to Iroh. I walked out and I didn't get very far when I felt an arm wrap around my waist pulling me into a room.

"Zuko, is that necessary?" I asked turning around. He plopped down on his bed and sighed. "I can't stand you being angry at me." He muttered. I shook my head and plopped down next to him on his bed. I lazily wrapped my arm around his shoulder and saw a light blush creep across his cheeks. I smirked, "When am I not angry at you?" He chuckled, "That is true"

I stared at him. There was another reason why he dragged me into his room. I crossed my arms and raised an eyebrow. "Um, what?" He asked rubbing the back of his neck. "What do you really want?"

He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Okay, I um wanted to talk to you about… Us" He gestured to me and him. I blushed and looked away from him quickly staring at the ground. "I already told you how I felt about you." He paused and I felt his hand rest on my leg. I looked up and saw how soft his face looked. It didn't look so tense like he always was.

"I realized I didn't really know that much about you. You always seem well guarded. I remember seeing you around Azula and around the palace, but I never hung out with you until we were both banished. I would like to get to know you." My eyes widen, where was the real Zuko?

"I was pretty much your sister's slave." I muttered standing up. He stood up quickly and his face tensed up again. "I wasn't aware of that. That is horrible. Why didn't you go to the Fire Lord?"

"My mother told me to deal with it, but your mother was always so kind to me." His face softens again at the mention of his mother. I smiled and placed my hand on his face. "I'm going to go practice my bending. Go back to mediating." He smiled and placed his hand over mine. He walked back over to his candles and lit them. I backed out of his room and walked till I found General Iroh. He walked with me and explained to me a new move I could try.

"Now Harmony, you must not control this on anger like all of your other fire moves. You must be relaxed." He backed away from me and I took a deep breath. I closed my eyes and removed all the anger from inside of me. I opened my eyes and grinned. I did a flip in the air and a giant ball of fire shot out from both of my palms. I flipped back and did a fire kick. I landed back on my feet and took a deep breath.

"Brilliant, Harmony!" General Iroh walked over to me and patted me on the back. "You have always been wonderful at listening and waiting for the right moment to attack. That will help you greatly against the Avatar." I faced him and bowed. He smirked and bowed back. I remember when I first started training with General Iroh. He would always get angry at me when I called him General Iroh. He wanted me to call him Uncle, but that just felt odd to me so he told me I could just call him Iroh instead.

He went off to go take a nap till lunch and I wanted to try out some more moves. I saw one of the guards walking by and I stopped him. "Excuse me, are you busy?" I was always extremely polite to the crew and guards. Zuko was always so rude, so I thought they needed at least one teenager to be nice to them.

"It can wait. What may I help you with, Lady Harmony?"

"Do you mind battling with me? I promise I won't hurt you." I smirked and he chuckled. He nodded and I took my stance.

000

"This looks good!" I said taking my plate of fish from the cook. He grinned at me and handed out the other plates to Zuko and Iroh. Zuko began eating and Iroh was drinking his tea. "Prince Zuko?" Zuko looked up from his meal and at the cook. I placed a piece of fish in my mouth and chewed slowly.

"As I was shopping for these fishes… I have heard something about the Avatar." Zuko's face brightens up and he leaned in closer to the cook. "They say he has been spotted on Kyoshi Island." The cook left and Zuko jumped up pulling me up with him. I whimpered and tried grabbing the fish. I was so hungry and I only had one bite. "Are you going to eat that?" Iroh asked pointing to Zuko's plate. Zuko snatched it up and glared at him.

"I was saving it for later." Zuko snapped, and then turned to me. "Tell them to ready the rhinos." I nodded and took off to the bottom of the ship where the rhinos were kept. I always loved the rhinos. A guard noticed me walk in and sat up looking at me funny.

"Prince Zuko said ready the rhinos. We are going to Kyoshi Island." He nodded and picked up a saddle nearby. I jogged out and knew I needed to go get ready.


	5. Chapter 5

We docked and I climbed onto the rhino behind Zuko. "Hold on, Harmony." Zuko said. I wrapped my arms around his waist as the rhino began moving. The village was empty and it seemed like we were being watched. I glanced around ready to attack at any given moment when I was attacked. I fell off the rhino with a thud and grunted. "Harmony!"

The soldier that attacked me wasn't a man. It was a teenage girl. I smirked, "I got this Zuko!" I fired a fire bolt at her. She waved her fan and my flames died down. "You're going to have to better than that." She hissed taking her fan and closing it. I smirked, and began my attack again. I through a kick at her and she seemed to be dodging every move I made. I heard Zuko yelled and looked away just for a second when she kicked me in the stomach causing me to go flying.

I screamed as my back slammed up against a pillar. I grunted and rubbed my back. I couldn't breathe; she knocked the air out of me. How the hell was I going to attack back? She began running towards me, but Zuko jumped in front of me blocking her attack. She went flying and hit the ground with a thud. Zuko turned towards me, "You okay?" He helped me up and I noticed that the girl warrior was gone.

"I'll be fine once I rip her apart." I hissed moving him out of my way. He grabbed my wrist, "The Avatar fled. We need to get back to the ship. Put your pride aside." He grabbed me and picking me up putting me on the rhino. He jumped on in front of me and slammed his heels into the rhino's side. The rhino lunched into a full out run. Zuko pulled the rhino to a stopped and I couldn't help but gasp. The Avatar was sitting on stop of some kind of water beast. The beast opened his mouth and shot out water.

The whole village include me were soaked. I pulled on my hair ringing out the water from my hair. "I seriously hate him." I mumbled as Zuko kicked the rhino into a run. The second the rhino stepped onto the ship, I jumped off and growled when I noticed my hair started to frizz. "Harmony, what is wrong with your hair?" Iroh asked walking over to me.

I growled, "That stupid kid! I'm taking a bath. Let me know when I can set that twelve year old brat on fire!"

"What is her problem? It's just water." Iroh asked Zuko. Zuko grinned, "She's angry because one of their warriors beat her in a duel." Iroh chuckled; Zuko couldn't help, but smirk as Harmony stalked off to go take a bath. He has never seen her so tensed about some stupid duel. He has only seen her that angry when she lost against Azula. Azula was the only one to be able to beat Harmony in a fire duel. Harmony hated it with a passion.

000

"Lady Harmony, your bath is ready." A guard said knocking lightly on my door. "Thank you." I walked out and down the hall to the bathroom. I opened up the door and smile seeing the gold tub filled to the top with warm water. I pulled off my clothes and winced when I leaned down. I walked over to the mirror and looked over my shoulder at my back. There was a large cut across my back and my back was turning blue. I walked over to the tub and climbed in slowly sinking into the warm water. I winced as the warm water lapped up against my cut. "Ow." I muttered sinking in further. I quickly dunked my head under water. I picked up some lavender soap and began washing my hair. I dunked back under and rise off my hair. I leaned back and placed my hands under the water heating it up more.

I sighed and lay back closing my eyes. I was feeling great until a sharp pain went through my back. I screamed and sat up. The water was bloody. I heard a knock at the door, "Lady Harmony, are you alright?"

"Um yes, can you get me Prince Zuko? And hurry." I heard footsteps away and I tried getting up, but I couldn't get up. I was more injured than I thought I was. "Harmony?" I heard Zuko's voice through the door.

"Um, yes. Come in!" I grabbed the towel closest to me and tried the best I could to cover myself. He walked in and his eyes widened. He looked away from me quickly. "I didn't realize you were still in the tub." He mumbled rubbing the back of his neck looking down at the ground.

"I need your help. I'm kind of injured." He looked up and calm down once he saw I was fully covered. He walked over to me and his eyes widened. "Your back!" He knelt down beside the tub and looked closely at my back. I winced when I felt him touch it lightly. "Can you get up?" I shook my head and he wrapped his arm around my waist pulling me out of the tub. I held the towel tightly to my body and he helped me walk over to a chair. I sat down and winced when I felt my skin tighten.

"How did you not realize you were this badly injured?" He got up and grabbed some bandages. "I'm good at not feeling pain." He paused and looked at me oddly. I did a mental sigh, I shouldn't have said that. Now he was going to ask why. He began to place some cream on my cut in silence.

"What do you mean?" He asked after we applied the cream. "Remember how I said I was Azula's slave." I felt him tense up and I closed my eyes.

"_Come on, little Harmony!" An eleven year old Azula said playing with Zuko's knife that she stole. A nine year old me bowed my head low and looked down at the ground. "What took you so long, peasant?" She threw the knife at me and I quickly caught it. My eyes water as I felt the blood drop from my palm. She snatched the knife back and I quickly hid my palm. What I noticed about Azula was not to show pain. She lives off of that. _

"_You are learning well." She patted me on the head and walked away dragging me behind her. I ripped a part of my tunic off and wrapped it quickly around my palm before Azula would notice. She pulled me out to the courtyard and turned around. "Take your stance." I nodded and planted my feet apart. I took a deep breath and ready myself. _

_She shot fire at me and I dodged it easily. I shot some right back at her and she did a flip to avoid it. She landed back on her feet and shot fire at my leg. I tried doing a flip, but my legs weren't as long as Azula, so I landed hard on my right shoulder. I winced feeling a sharp pain go up my shoulder. I sat up and grabbed my shoulder. "Azula! Harmony! What is going on?" I saw Azula's mom walk up and I was surprise to see that Zuko wasn't with her. "We are just practicing, mom" She sounded so innocent. She knew I was hurt, but she didn't want to get into trouble. I stood up and blinked back my tears. _

"_Are you alright, Harmony?" I nodded and bowed my head. "I just tripped over my own feet." _

"Why didn't you tell my mother?" Zuko asked wrapping a bandage around my back. "It would have made things worse, but now I have a cool scar." I held up my hand and showed him my palm that had a long pink scar across it. He smiled, and finished up bandaging my back.

"What ever happened to your shoulder?" He asked picking up all the supplies that he got out. "Your uncle cleaned me up. He always cleaned me up after Azula was done with me. I thought I would give him a break and call you instead today." Zuko smiled and handed me my clean clothes. He bowed his head and I raised an eyebrow.

"I am sorry that my sister did that to you." I nodded and he walked out of the bathroom.


	6. Chapter 6

We have been traveling a week and no Avatar. Zuko has been a pain. He has been blowing up at the crew and me. I have been avoiding him. I was lying on my bed reading a book I had picked up in a market when I heard pounding on my door. I knew that wasn't Iroh because he always barely knocked. The guards normally just knocked once and then yelled through the door. So that leaves Zuko. "What?" I hissed not looking up from my book.

He walked in and slammed the door behind him. "We have word of the Avatar." He said leaning up against the door. I didn't even glance up. I really didn't want to talk to him. He yelled and caused a scene with me during breakfast. I had actually gotten so angry I threw fire at him. I have been in my room since.

"That's nice." I muttered turning the page of my book. I noticed him twitch and he let out a low growl. I was getting to him and I loved it. "Why don't you care?!" He snatched my book out of my hands and placed his lit hand under my book.

"You set that on fire and I will make sure you get thrown overboard!" I hissed rushing towards him. He held the book up over my head and I began jumping for it. "Answer my question and I will you back your stupid book."

"First off, we have talked about this whole Avatar thing and second of all, that book is written by a professor who has study all four elements… So give it back!" I punched him in the stomach and he dropped to his knees. I snatched my book away from him and plopped down on my bed reopening it to where I was.

"So where is this brat?" I asked glancing over at him on the ground. "He was spotted at a prison camp for earthbending. We'll be there in an hour." He grunted standing up and sitting down on my bed. I closed my book and leaned forward. He looked over at me and smiled rubbing his stomach. "I forgot how feisty you were. I'm sorry about this morning."

"You are doing a lot of apologizing. It is kind of scaring me." I said smiling. I got up and walked over to my closet. I pulled on my boots and turned around to face him. He was staring at me. I looked down at myself I realized I was wearing my tunic that showed off my stomach. I always wore this when I was just in my room. I totally forgot I was wearing it. I don't think Zuko ever saw me wear this. I waved my hand in front of his face and he snapped out of it.

"Sorry. What was your question?" He asked. I laughed and placed my hands on my hips letting him get a clear look at my tone stomach. "It wasn't a question. I was saying you were apologizing a lot lately."

"You just have a way about you. I am going to go get dressed." He got up and shot me another glance before quickly walking out of my room. I smiled and patted my stomach. At least I knew what to do if I wanted something from him. I pulled out my normal fire nation clothes and quickly put them on. I walked over to my mirror and redid my hair. My hair was long and thick. It reached the middle of my back and I always had it in a braided bun. I felt the ship slowed and walked out of my room.

000

"He destroyed the place, huh?" I asked looking around at the prison. One of the guards explained that the Avatar helped all the earthbenders escape. The warden was gone and many of the guards were too. They were last seen being thrown in the water below. I kicked around the coal while Zuko questioned the guards. I noticed a blue ribbon underneath one of the coals. I knelt down and picked up the coal. Underneath the coal was a blue ribbon that was attached to a stone. I picked it up and ran my thumb over the smooth stone.

"Hm, waterbending." The stone had been carved by waterbending. That Katara girl that was travelling with the Avatar was from the water tribe. It was her necklace. "Oh Zuko!" I stood up and Zuko muttered something to one of the guards walking over to me.

I held the necklace up to his face and he took it from me. "The girl must be a waterbender. The stone is craved by water. It's her necklace." I whispered placing my hands on my hips smirking at the necklace. It was a gorgeous necklace. She must be missing it, but this was going to help us find them. Zuko looked at the necklace then stared out at the ocean. The wind picked up blowing my hair out of my bun a little. I stared out at the ocean. We were close behind. The closer we got to him, the closer Zuko could go home. I just wanted him to be happy.

Zuko walked behind me and held the necklace to my neck. He tied it onto my neck and leaned down resting his head on my shoulder. He placed his hands on my hips. "Well done, Harmony." He whispered in my ear. I felt a shiver go up my spine. "It looks beautiful on you. It suits you a lot better than the waterbender." He kissed my cheek and I turned red in the face. He let go of me and walked back over to Iroh. I stood there and placed a hand on my cheek.

What was he doing to me? I looked over at him talking to Iroh. Iroh looked at me and then back at Zuko. He said something then shook his head at Zuko. I placed a shaky hand over the stone on my neck. I felt sick. This wasn't my necklace. It had to belong to her family forever and here I was sporting it on my neck.

"You do not have to wear it, Harmony." I glanced to my right to see Iroh standing next to me. "I will do whatever makes him happy." I held my head high. I wasn't going to show Iroh how crushed I was. "But what about your happiness?" Iroh asked placing an arm on my shoulder. I pushed his arm away from me, "When has anyone worried about my happiness?"

"Prince Zuko means well. He is not lying about his feelings for you." Iroh said stopping me before I walked away from him. "Then when will he actually show it." I bowed my head and walked away from him. I felt Zuko's eyes on me and I couldn't help, but let the sadness wash over me. He always acted one way when he was around firebenders. He sported me around like I was his. The kiss he gave me wasn't because he cared. It was because I found him a clue.

"Lady Harmony." I looked up to one of the guards that Zuko was questioning. "Yes?" Zuko watched the guard closely. His eyes shifted between me and the guard. "You look sad." I was shocked that the guard was going to talk to me like that. I saw Zuko tense up, but I didn't show that I was shocked.

"The Avatar escaped." I replied calmly. The guard raised an eyebrow, "Pardon me for saying this, but are you not happy in Prince Zuko's care? Forgive me, I was very good friends with your parents. I promised your mother if I ever saw you I would make sure you are alright." I stared down at the ground not knowing what to say to him. I felt scared. I had to tiptoe around this.

I had to watch what I said so Zuko wouldn't get mad at him and I had to watch what I said because I didn't want my mother knowing I was unhappy. She didn't care about me; she would have stopped me from being banished. She let it happen. "You tell my mother that I am fine, but since when has she cared about my well-being. Actually since when has anyone cared about me? I will be in the ship, Prince Zuko" I spat out his hand and stormed my way back to the ship. I pushed past guards and slammed open my bedroom door.

I slammed it shut behind me and threw myself onto my bed. Before I knew it, I started crying.

000

"That will be enough. Uncle, let's go" Zuko looked at the disapproving look on his uncle's face. The second they walked onto the ship, Iroh whipped around and glared at Zuko. "How dare you do that to her?" He yelled. Zuko took a step back and raised an eyebrow. What had he done to Harmony?

"What are you talking about?" Zuko hissed leaning up against the rail of the ship as it moved back away from the prison. "She is not yours. She loves you! She is giving away her happiness for you! That stunt you just pulled back there showed that you act one way with her around soldiers!" Iroh was frustrated with Zuko. A gorgeous girl was standing in front of him willing to give him the world and yet he has to crush her every other day. Zuko looked down as Iroh stormed away. Maybe he was right.

Every time Harmony walked by, men would stop in stare. Zuko had to show them that she wasn't a thing. He sighed, and pushed himself off the rail. He wanted to go apologized. Why was he always hurting her? He stopped at her door and was about to knock when he heard her.

She was crying.

"I just want to be loved. Is that so much to ask for?" She whimpered. Zuko felt his heart break even more. He was the cause of this. He shouldn't have let his jealously take over him like that. He shouldn't have let that guard talk to her like that. He knew she was bitter towards her mother. Why didn't he put an end to her hurt?

He pushed opened the door and walked over to her bed. She looked up, but didn't scream at him. He slowly sat down on her bed and pulled her into her arms. He let her cry into his chest and just rubbed her back as she cried.


	7. Chapter 7

"Uncle!" Zuko marched his way through the woods with me slowly following behind me. Zuko and I went to the market while Iroh wandered off. We were very close behind the Avatar and Zuko was getting very grumpy. Iroh was sitting in an rock tub. He had heated the water and was now taking a relaxing bath. I sighed, that sure looked nice but since my back was whipped apart I couldn't take hot baths. "Uncle, we have to go! We are right behind the Avatar." Zuko snapped.

"But this is so nice. I believe we need to all be relaxed." Iroh said sinking further into the water. "Come on!" Zuko yelled stomping his foot on the ground like he was three years old. I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms. "Alright, I am coming." Iroh stood up and I screamed quickly covering my eyes. Iroh was completely naked.

"Actually how about you just finish up and meet us back on the ship in thirty minutes or I am leaving you." Zuko grabbed my wrist tugging me away from Iroh. I finally opened my eyes and noticed Zuko was now holding my hand instead of my wrist. How hadn't he let go yet? His hands were soft. I didn't move. I wanted to see how long this actually lasted. Ever since he found me crying in my room, he was a lot more protective and sweet.

We walked through the market. "Hey cutie, how about leaving your little boyfriend over there and come be with a man." I ignored the guy and kept walking, but Zuko stopped short. His shoulders were tensed and he let go of my hand quickly. He turned around and began walking towards the guy. I grabbed his arm and pulled him to a stop.

"Zuko, stop it. He's just being an idiot."

"He needs to show you respect." Zuko growled. He glared at the guy before turning around grabbing my hand again. I was shocked. Normally he would have destroyed that guy, but now he was just walking away. We stepped on the ship and he wrapped his arm around my waist.

"I want us to work out, okay." He said quietly. "You are doing a great job so far." I whispered. He smiled an actual smile. He leaned on the rail and I placed my hand on his shoulder. He turned around and looked at me. "It's time I give back to you." I smiled and nodded my head. Maybe he was changing after all.

000

"Harmony? Have you seen my Uncle?" Zuko knocked on my door and stepped in. I placed down my book and looked at the time. Iroh's thirty minutes were up. Way up. I shook my head and closed my book. "Want to go look for him?" Zuko actually looked worried. I have never seen him look so worry. I got up and followed him off the ship.

It didn't take us long to get back to where we left him. But Iroh wasn't there anymore. "He might have thought you left him, Prince Zuko." One of the guards said looking around. I looked over and saw that rocks had been moved. I nudged Zuko and he knelt down looking closely at the ground.

"Maybe it was a rock slide, sir." Another guard spoke up and I looked at the rocks closely. I walked over to Zuko and knelt down beside him. "The rocks are going up." I pointed to the rocks. Zuko stood up, "My Uncle has been kidnapped by earthbenders." I stood up and crossed my arms over my chest. I rubbed my arms and sighed. Now I was really worried.

I knew Iroh could take earthbenders, but Iroh really didn't know when to keep his mouth shut. That was going to get him killed. Zuko climbed onto his rhino and held out his hand for me. I looked at him and then glanced back over to where Iroh used to be. "We'll find him, Harmony. Uncle can take care of himself." I nodded and bit down on my lip. I grabbed his hand and he easily pulled me up behind him. I wrapped my arms around his waist and he kicked the rhino into a run.

I began to get tired. We were on the trail for at least an hour and I hadn't slept at all the night before, so I was sleepy. "Close your eyes. I'll wake you up if we find anything." I nodded and rested my head against his back. I fell asleep fast.

I fell asleep fast, but I felt like it was over too quickly. Zuko nudged me and jumped off the rhino. He knelt down and picked up a sandal that looks just like one of Iroh's. "Is it his?" Zuko picked it up and smelled it. He made a disgusted face and threw it down gagging.

"I'm taking that as a yes." I said as he climbed back onto the rhino. The guards had gone back to the ship while Zuko and I followed the footprints of ostrich horse. We had been riding for an hour and I really wanted to find these earthbenders. Zuko placed his hand over my hands that were wrapped around his waist.

I rested my head against his back and I heard him sigh. I saw something white shoot through the air and glanced up. "Zuko! The Avatar." He pulled the rhino to a stop and looked up to the sky. He looked at Appa and then back at the trail. He kicked the rhino again and continued following the trail of the earthbenders.

000

"Look, there they are." I hissed. They had Iroh chained to a rock and one of the earthbenders had a rock above him. They were getting ready to crush his hands. I jumped off the rhino and jumped into the hole kicking the rock away from Iroh. Zuko kicked Iroh's chains breaking them. Iroh jumped up and began to use the chains as weapons. One of the earthbenders shot rocks at me and I easily punched them causing them to break into pieces.

I felt something wrapped around my waist and saw a chain. Iroh yanked me back just before a large rock landed where I was. I grunted as I hit the ground and watched Iroh attack the earthbender, who just tried to kill me.

Zuko knelt beside me and pulled the chain off from around my waist. He pulled me up and wrapped me up in his arms. I sighed and took in his scent. I closed my eyes as Zuko talked lightly to Iroh. I pulled back and Zuko smiled down at me. Zuko patted Iroh on the back, "Now can you please put on some clothes."

I laughed. Zuko stared at me, but it felt different. He was looking at me lovingly. I smiled at him and he blushed. I guess he didn't realize that I saw him staring at me. "You two seem to be getting along better." Zuko nodded and climbed onto the rhino pulling me up behind him.

000

*Flashback in Zuko's POV*

Harmony was sound asleep. She was resting up against my back. I loved her. There was no question about that. I didn't know how I was supposed to show her that I cared for her deeply. She was so open with telling me her feelings, but was the Avatar really that more important than her? She had always been there for me since we had gotten banished. She was the shoulder I cried on. She was the girl of my dreams. I remember when her and her mother moved into the palace for the first time. My father was in awe over her mother, but my eyes were drawn on Harmony.

When her name meant everything, it was beautiful. I still remember the day she told me why she was named Harmony.

"_Why did your parents name you Harmony?" I asked, it was about four months into our banishment and all we did was fight with each other. Uncle had forced us into a room and said we were not to come out till we solved all our problems. _

"_My dad named me. He said that harmony was all that would stop this war. He said that harmony within all the different nations would stop this horrible war. He said… he knew I would be able to bring harmony to the world… So he named me Harmony. I still haven't really figure out why he thought I would bring harmony to the world." Harmony said softly. She looked so destroyed. She looked hopeless. _

"_How did your father die?" I asked gently. I had asked Uncle many times and even asked my mother, but they would just get this really sad look in their eyes and change the subject. Her eyes soften, but to my surprise she cleared her throat and sat up straighter. "They were trying to overpower an earth kingdom village. The earthbenders were really powerful. Some of the fire nation soldiers wanted to fall back because they were so powerful… But the general didn't want to be defeated. My father was overpowered by an earth kingdom soldier. The general was standing right next to him… He could have saved him." She shook her head and coughed. "He was crushed to death and no one helped him when they clearly could. My dad would have given his life to protect his troop members, but they betrayed him." I placed my hand over hers. _

_She had to be the strongest girl, he has ever met. _

_She was his hero._

He looked up to her so much. She was so brave, but then she was so bitter at the same time. She knew she wouldn't be welcome back into the fire nation with open arms. I would do anything… If she was banished again, would I go with her?

"Prince Zuko?" I glanced over at the g next guard to me. They looked tired. "Would you like us to take Lady Harmony back to the ship?" I glanced back at the girl that was fast asleep on me. I didn't want her warmth to leave me. And I know she would kill me if she woke up on the ship instead of looking for Uncle. "No, we will go on. All of you go back to the ship incase my Uncle shows up." The guards turned around and set off towards the ship.

I was now alone with Harmony and she was asleep. I saw something laying on the ground and saw it was a sandal. I nudged her awake and she shot up quickly. I jumped off the rhino and walked towards the sandal. "Is it his?"

I smelt it and winced. It was his all right. I looked back up at Harmony and saw her giggling. I smiled, she was beyond gorgeous.


	8. Chapter 8

"Harmony!" I ran out of my room and onto the deck of the ship. "What is it?" I asked Iroh trying really hard to check my breath. He pointed over to Zuko, who was looking up to the sky. It was the Avatar and his little crew. I ran over to the rail and looked over. We were heading right into fire nation. "Zuko, you do realize where we are right?" I hissed looking at all the fire nation ships lined up. I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. He was willing to risk his life to capture this stupid kid.

"Prince Zuko, if they capture you I can do nothing. You and Harmony will be arrested! I cannot stop that." Iroh was going into panic mode, but Zuko didn't seem to be listening. My heart was pounding in my chest. I needed to trust Zuko, right? "Harmony, I have too." Zuko whispered to me. "Do it." He smiled and yelled his orders. Zuko picked up a telescope and peered through it.

"Zhao." He handed it to me and I looked through it. Zhao was commanding these ships. We weren't going to live. "Harmony, you stay near me at all times, understood?" Zuko took the telescope from me and began to look through it again. I was about to open my mouth to argue, but I knew he was right. Zhao had something against me or something. Zhao's ships began firing and I couldn't believe it. Why was he doing that when a fire nation ship was out in the water? He was going to hit us.

A fire ball just missed the Avatar and was coming straight towards us. It hit the ship causing me to lose my balance and fall. "Where have we been hit?" Zuko yelled pulling me up holding me tight against him. "The engine, sir! We need to stop and make repairs."

"Do not stop this ship." Zuko yelled. The closer we got to the ships; they seemed to open to let us through. I looked up at one of the ships and saw Zhao smirking down at us. What was he up to?

"Why didn't he attack us? Why did he let us through?" Zuko let go of me and walked over to his uncle. I looked up at the sky and saw the smoke from our ship. We were going to lead him right to the Avatar. I bit down on my lip and rushed over to the pair. "We are about to lead him right to the Avatar." I hissed. Zuko looked at the smoke and growled.

"I and Harmony will take row boat and you will cover us by the smoke." Zuko grabbed my hand and he rushed to the bottom of the ship. He pulled up a boat and dropped it into the water. He helped me climb in and we took off.

000

Zuko and I hide behind a statue, I peeked around to see the fire sages looking at the door. Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, I saw the Avatar peeking around another statue. I took off and grabbed him quickly before he even realized I got him. I yanked his arms behind his back and held him tight. Zuko walked over and smirked. "I finally have you." He whispered.

"Aang! Go!" I yanked Aang out from behind the statue and his little crew freaked. "I'm afraid, he's coming with me." Zuko said crossing his arms over his chest. I rolled my eyes, I was doing all the work here. The fire sages grabbed his crew and tied with up to a statue. I was about to pull Aang away when he jumped out of my arms throwing me down some stairs. I landed on my back and gasped. I pulled myself up and looked up at the stairs I had just fallen down. Where was Zuko? Someone grabbed my arm and I whipped around being face to face with Zhao.

"Harmony." He grabbed my arm and dragged me up the stairs. Zuko and the fire sages were trying to get the door to open back up by using firebending. By the looks of it, it wasn't working. Zuko stopped when he saw Zhao and his eyes traveled over to me. I was in a lot of pain. I think I broke my wrist and it wasn't helping that Zhao had a strong grip on me. "I found this." He grabbed my chin causing me to look at Zuko.

"And I thought you would never let her out of your sight. Guards?" His guards moved forward and grabbed Zuko. Zhao shoved me into Zuko's arms. Zuko wrapped his arms around me and glared at Zhao. The guards yanked me away from Zuko and chained us to a statue right next to Aang's little crew.

"Are you injured?" Zuko asked turning his head towards me. I nodded and tried to show him my right wrist. He looked down and glared at Zhao. I rested my head back and looked over at his crew. Katara was staring at me and Zuko. Sokka was just staring at me with his mouth slightly open. My main focus was on Katara. She was looking with us with pity. Was it because she knew we were both banished? Or did she know about our complex relationship?

I looked away from her as the doors busted open. I closed my eyes and when I opened them I was shocked to see Avatar Roku attack Zhao along with his crew. The chains that held us against the statue broke. Zuko grabbed my left hand. The place was coming down. A pillar broke and landed right in front of us. I jumped back, Zuko picked me up and we jumped over the pillar that was covered in flames.

000

"Ow! Ow!" I yanked my hand out of Iroh's hands. Zuko was pacing around his room watching Iroh take care of my wrist. "It is broken. I'm going to have to pop the bone back into place then wrap it." My eyes widen and Zuko stopped pacing to stare at Iroh. That sounded painful. Really painful. That sounds like something I really didn't want to go through.

"Maybe we should just take her to a doctor." Zuko said. "No, you will lose sight of the Avatar." I said. I held my wrist tightly to my chest protectively. I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. I held out my wrist and Iroh took it gently in his hands. "Ready?" Before I could even nod, Iroh pulled it quickly. I screamed out in pain and Zuko handed him a bandage. Iroh wrapped it carefully and I whimpered.

"I will go fetch some ice. Zuko make sure she doesn't pass out." Iroh stood up and exited the room quickly. Zuko sat down next to me on his bed and looked at me worriedly. "I would ask if you are all right, but I know you aren't." He wrapped his arms around my shoulders and I rested my head on his shoulder.

"I had him. I was about to walk away with the Avatar and he knocked me over so easily." I whispered. Zuko kissed the top of my head and rubbed his hand up and down my arm. "He's powerful." Zuko muttered. I nodded and closed my eyes. I took in his scent and would have fallen asleep if it wasn't for the sharp pain shooting up my arm.

"I'm sorry I let you get hurt. I'm sorry I let Zhao lay a finger on you." Zuko whispered into my hair. "Zhao likes me a little too much for my comfort." I said sitting up. Zuko looked at me and shook his head. He chuckled, "What man doesn't find you attractive?"

"I can't help it that I was curse with this face." I laughed and he busted out laughing too. Zuko's laugh was beautiful. It made me happy to see him laugh. He rarely laughed, but when he did he brought me happiness. I wanted so much to end his suffering.


	9. Chapter 9

_**Hey guys!**_

_**I see that a lot of you are**__**following this story and that is awesome! Thank you to everyone who reviewed! Please keep up the reviewing! You guys are actually giving me ideas on how I want this story to go! So keep sending me those ideas!**_

_**Thanks and enjoy reading Chapter 9!**_

000

"Ugh, it is so hard to freaking firebend with this!" I yelled throwing my wrist up in the air and waving it around dramatically. Zuko sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "You are doing fine, Harmony. We are never going to get done with practice when you keep stopping!" Zuko snapped. I growled and shot fire right pass his head. He jumped and glared at me, "I wasn't ready!"

I smirked and crossed my arms over my chest. He rolled his eyes and took his stance again. I took mine and I felt the ship lunch into a halt. I fell forward and Zuko grabbed me around the waist. "Who is changing our direction?" Zuko let go of me and took off. I followed him closely, but not too close. I knew he was going to blow up at whoever change our direction and I had a feeling it was General Iroh.

"Who took us off course?!" Zuko yelled slamming open the door. Iroh and a couple of other crew members were playing Iroh's favorite game, Pai Sho. "I did. I seem to have lost the most import tile. I asked to stop at a market nearby so I may buy another." Zuko let out a frustrated cry causing fire to shoot out of his clenched fist. I ducked as one soar over my head.

"Which one is missing?" I asked leaning against the wall as Iroh continued to play his Pai Sho game. "My Lotus tile." I looked on the board and noticed his tile was missing. I looked at Zuko and realized that Zuko had given up. He left the room and I left shortly after.

000

"I don't think we need all these things." I said watching as the crew carried things to the ship. "You got a horn… Wait, is that a new outfit?" Zuko asked looking me up and down. I smiled and spun around so he could get a better look at it. I stop and smirked, when I saw the look on his face. Iroh was explaining why he got the horn while we were walking back to the ship, when he noticed a place he didn't catch out before.

I could tell it was a pirate ship. I stepped in and Iroh was in heaven. I looked around and saw a couple of pirates talking quietly. I nudged Zuko and stepped forward a little to hear what they were saying. "The waterbender girl escaped." My hand flew up to my neck to mess around with Katara's necklace around my neck. Zuko stepped forward and cleared his throat. They broke apart and looked at him.

"What did she take?" I asked walking forward. "A waterbending scroll." I smirked, "What if we helped you find her?" I crossed my arms over my chest and the main pirate smirked stepping forward towards me. I took a step back and I saw Zuko tensed up. I held my hand up to him and Iroh quickly grabbed Zuko's arm.

"What do I get if I take you to the girl?" He brushed his fingers across my cheek and brushed my hair behind my ear. I felt a shiver over my entire body. "A date, perhaps." I saw Iroh quickly let go of Zuko and stepped back smirking. These pirates were about to meet Zuko's jealous rage. Zuko stepped up beside me and grabbed this man's hand away from me.

"She isn't a winning. I will get you back your scroll, I'm sure that's a lot of money. I just want the boy she travelling with her." The pirate looked down at me and Iroh grabbed my arm pulling me out of the ship. Zuko followed closely behind us and we climbed down onto our ship with the pirates. Zuko grabbed one of our guards' by the shoulder and dragged him roughly over to me.

"You watch her. Those pirates get nowhere near her, understood?" I glared at Zuko as we walked over to the captain to explain where to go. One of the shorter pirates stared at me and slowly licked his lips. The guard standing next to me and followed my glaze, the guard rested his hand on his sword and grabbed my shoulder walking me away.

I walked over to Zuko, "We need to stick to the waters. If she got a waterbending scroll, she will be on the water."

000

It was early in the morning and we have been searching forever it felt like. I had a bad feeling about these pirates. No matter where I went on the ship, they seemed to be following me. I was resting my head on the rail of the ship with a guard standing beside me. I heard a frustrated scream in the distance and a smash of water. I sat up and looked at Zuko, who was standing a few feet away from me. By the look on his face, he had heard it also.

We stopped the ship and sneaked around. One of the pirates got Katara tied to a tree. Zuko walked out and she gasped. I stepped out from behind him and smirked. Zuko turned around and took the necklace off my neck. He walked over to the tree, "I hear you stole a water scroll." She looked away from him.

"I just need you to tell me where he is. I have something that I know you are missing." Zuko held out her necklace in front of her face. She gasped, "My mother's necklace." My eyes widen for a second, it was her mother's necklace. Now, I really felt bad about wearing it. Her mother must have died or something, that necklace seemed to mean a lot to her.

"You tell me where he is and I'll give this back to you." He walked around the tree and waved the necklace in her face again. I felt awful, but Zuko needed the Avatar and if this worked, then I would have to push my feelings aside. "No!" She snapped. Zuko smirked and walked slowly over to me. He walked behind me and tied the necklace back on my neck. He stared at me lovingly and then looked back over at her.

"It looks better on Harmony anyways. Search the woods." Zuko snapped to the pirates, who took off. Zuko wrapped his arm protectively around my waist leaning down close to my ear, "Talk to her. Give her another chance to get back her necklace." I looked at him. I was shocked, Zuko actually wanted her to have her necklace back and he knew I might be able to talk her into it.

I walked over to her and stopped right in front of her crossing my arms. "What is your name?" I asked lightly. "Katara." She hissed out. "Now Katara, I want you to get your necklace back… Just tell me where he is. He will understand. He knows how much this means to you, right?" I whispered stepping closer and placing my fingers over her necklace that was wrapped tightly around my neck. She eyed my neck for a long time before looked back up.

"You love him, don't you? The only reason you are doing this is to make him happy." She whispered looking over my shoulder at Zuko. I turned around and met Zuko's eyes. I turned quickly back around and glared at her. She had no business in my personal life. So what if she was right? I didn't want a filthy waterbender making me look weak.

"Shut your mouth." I hissed. She jerked her head back like I had just slapped her. I didn't know why I was so angry, but I was. How could she read me so well? How could she see that and she has only met me a handful of time? "You just lost your chance of getting this hideous necklace back." I snapped walking away and back over to Zuko.

Zuko wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me closer to him. I snuggle in closer to him and watched as the pirates yanked in Aang and Sokka. Zuko handed me the scroll and I tuck it into my pants. Zuko stepped forward and I saw the look in Katara's eyes. She knew this was all her fault and it really was.

"Hand over the kid and my girlfriend will give you back the scroll." My eyes widen and so did Iroh's. Did Zuko just call me his girlfriend? Zuko looked over at me quickly and then controlled his emotions quickly. "Hey now! Why would you give up the Avatar?!" Sokka spoke up quickly. I glared; Sokka just told the pirates what Zuko has been hiding from them.

"I'm sure he is a lot more expensive than some stupid waterbending scroll." Sokka really needed to shut up. The head pirate stepped forward and Zuko glared. "Shut up, you filthy peasant!" Zuko yelled.

"I don't think we have a deal anymore."

"No we had a deal!" Zuko screamed causing the pirate to rush him. Zuko pushed me out of the way and began to attack each other. Suddenly a cloud of dust appeared and all I heard was fighting. I rushed into the dust to see if I could snatch the Avatar away from the pirates. I heard a scream and ducked sending a fire ball at the pirate. He hit the ground and then I tripped over something. I heard a grunt and saw I was sitting on Sokka.

"Um hiya." He winked at me and I rolled my eyes. I saw the scroll and reached for it. Sokka flipped me over and sat on top of me grabbing the scroll. I noticed him eyeing his sister's necklace around my neck. I noticed the cloud of dust disappeared and Zuko stopped fighting. Everyone's attention was on us, so I did the only thing I thought of.

I screamed and tried to push him off of me. Sure, I could have easily blasted him off, but I knew that would be too easy and I wanted to have some fun with this. Zuko rushed towards us and Aang quickly pulled Sokka off of me running away. He helped me up quickly and asked me if he hurt me. I shook my head and then I noticed that the pirates had stolen our ship. Zuko, Iroh, and I ran down the bank trying to catch up.

We watched slowly as our ship was destroyed. I stared and sighed. Zuko was fuming and I just watched him carefully. He was going to explode at any moment. Iroh began laughing and I turned around, "Funny thing, I have had my lotus tile this whole time." Zuko glared and snatched the tile from Iroh throwing it into the river.

I let out a frustrated scream and kicked the ground. I was bruised, wet, and my hair was all messed up. I was hit on by pirates and then I was sat on by Sokka. Not only had that happened, but Zuko called me his girlfriend, so that made things even more complicated. I sighed and we walked away back to our main ship.

Good thing my clothes weren't on the ship that was just destroyed.


	10. Chapter 10

"A storm is coming." Iroh said, I looked up to the clear blue sky and looked back over at him. "What are you talking about? The sky is gorgeous." Zuko looked at me and then up at the sky. "We must dock. This storm is going to be bad. We need to make sure the crew is safe." Iroh explained, I agreed with Iroh, but I knew Zuko wasn't going to listen to his uncle. Zuko never listened to anyone.

"No, we are standing on course. I do not care about the crew!" Right when he yelled that one of the crew members walked forward towards us. I winced; this was going to be bad. He glared at Zuko and Zuko walked towards him. I stepped between them and Iroh just stood back. "No one's well-being is more important than getting the Avatar." Zuko stormed away from us and went back to his room. Iroh stepped forward and I looked down at the ground.

"My nephew means well. He has just had a tough life." I looked at Iroh, what about me? I didn't have the best childhood and I didn't act at all like Zuko. The crew member didn't say anything just walked away. I looked at Iroh, before leaving him alone on the deck. I walked to my room and locked my door behind me. I walked over to where my candles were. I snapped two of my fingers together causing a flame to shoot out of my index finger. I held my finger up to each of the three candles lighting them.

I sat down on the rug in front of the candle. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. Each breath I took, the flames on the candles would flicker. Suddenly, I was no longer on the ship. I was in my own little world.

"_Mommy, when is daddy coming home?" I asked. My mother looked up from the letter she had just received. She had tears running down her face. She held onto the necklace that was around her neck. My father had given her the pearl necklace before he left. She was always wearing it. "Harmony, darling." By the sound of my mother's voice, I knew I was going to regret asking. _

"_Daddy isn't coming home. Daddy got hurt really badly and…" He was dead. That is what she wanted to say, but she just couldn't explain that to her daughter. I looked down at the ground and then back up at her, "He's dead?" A sob escaped her lips and I took off running out the back door. I only ran a few feet before I bumped into someone. _

"_Oh dear!" I was scooped up and met the gold eyes of General Iroh. "Are you little Harmony?" I nodded trying to wipe the tears off my cheeks. "You have your father's eyes. Let's go talk to your mother, okay?" I whimpered and he held me close to his body as we stepped back into the house. _

_Four months later, we moved into the palace. _

I clash of thunder broke me out of my mediation. I stood up quickly and noticed that I was actually crying. I rubbed my eyes and walked out of my room. I needed a snack. I was walking through the ship when I heard some light talking. I followed the sound of the voice and peeked around the corner.

Iroh was sitting in a circle with the crew. He was talking about Zuko. The day he got his scar from his father. "So, that is why Prince Zuko wants to capture the Avatar so badly… That is the only way he is going to be able to go home."

"I always thought Prince Zuko had received that during a horrible training accident." Another crew member spoke up. "The Avatar gives him hope."

"He isn't the only one that give someone hope." Iroh said. I leaned forward a little. I knew this was wrong, but I wanted to hear what Iroh was about to say. "You mean Lady Harmony?"

"Yes, Harmony. She has had a difficult life as well. Her father died when she was just a little girl, then her and her mother moved into the palace. Princess Azula used Harmony as a slave. She was Azula's test dummy for new firebending moves. Azula realized that Harmony was a very powerful bender. My brother knew if Zuko could not become Fire Lord, Azula would take his place… Harmony could easily over power her. That is the main reason why the Fire Lord banished her with Prince Zuko." Iroh took a deep breath and waited for the crew members to speak up.

"She cares deeply for him, doesn't she?" I leaned my head back against the wall listening carefully. "She does. The Avatar gives Harmony hope that the war will end. The war that took her father, she also thinks that once Zuko captures the Avatar… He will change. All she wants is for Zuko to love her and for him to be happy. I do not think she realizes she is giving away her happiness to make him happy. Harmony has a large heart." Iroh voice softens. I could barely hear him. I had to push myself hard against the wall, just so I could hear.

"I believe Prince Zuko cares for her, General. The way he looks at her. It is as if she is the only girl in the world." The crew member said. I rolled my eyes, "Then when will he actually act on it." I muttered walking away. I walked towards the deck and saw it was raining badly. I heard screaming and ran out onto the deck. I looked up and saw the helmsman was dangling.

"Zuko!" I screamed and ran over to the latter. I began to climb and I heard Zuko rush out along with the crew. I reached the man and looked over the edged at the helmsman. "Harmony! Stay right there." I heard Iroh yell from below.

"It is okay. Grab my hand." I held out my hand for the helmsman. He took it and it felt him slipping. The rain was causing me to not get a good grip on him and the rail I was holding onto. He slipped through my fingers and I felt me lose my grip on the rail. I saw Zuko grab the helmsman and handed him down to another crew member.

"Harmony!" He yelled. I lost my grip completely and began to fall. I let out a blood curling scream as I flew down to the ground below. Someone grabbed my arm and I looked up to see Zuko's face a mere inches away from mine. He had jumped off the latter to grab me and now the helmsman was holding onto his leg.

"I gotcha." He breathed out.

000

Iroh rushed towards me as my feet touched the ground. He wrapped his arms tightly around me and I noticed he was crying badly. I saw the Avatar fly above us and I saw Zuko follow the Avatar with his eyes. "Prince Zuko, what would you like us to do?" The crew member that had gotten in a fight with Zuko earlier stepped forward and I couldn't help, but smile. The story Iroh told them actually made them better understand Zuko.

"We need to repair the ship and get out of this storm."

"We must get to the eye of the storm." The helmsman walked away with a couple of crew members following him. Iroh finally let go of me, "Get her inside, Prince Zuko." Zuko nodded and wrapped his arms around my shoulders.

He walked me back to my room and grabbed a towel wrapping it around my shoulders. He sat behind me and rubbed his hands up and down my arms. I felt him using his firebending and smiled. It felt good.

"You had me worry sick." He muttered after a few minutes of silence. I didn't say anything I just let him continue to warm me. "I can't lose you, Harmony." He whispered. He stopped his hands and I felt his breath on the back of my neck. I wasn't about to let him just sweet talk me like I was his. He had hurt me. Hurt me badly.

I stood up quickly letting the towel drop to the ground. "Then start acting like it." I hissed, my teeth were clenched together and I felt my anger slowly take over my body. He looked at me sadly and then looked down at the ground. "I know I have treated you badly. I tell you one thing and then act another way… I am truly sorry." He stood up and bowed to me. I was shocked, what was he doing? He stood up fully and placed his hand on my cheek.

He stepped closer to me and placed his lips on my forehead. I felt the anger leave me and now I was just confused. He stepped back and did another bow before leaving my room. I walked to my door and placed my hand on it. Should I go after him? I heard something outside my door and pressed my ear to it.

"You messed up big, Zuko" I heard a whimper and then footsteps.

"Why can't you just open your heart?" I whispered as my candles died down.


	11. Chapter 11

Zhao was going to capture the Avatar before us. There was no way about that. He had huge numbers at his command. How were we going to compete with that? We had a small crew and that was it. I could tell by the look of Zuko's face that he was getting tired of Zhao. Everywhere we went, Zhao seemed to always be a couple of steps ahead of us.

"Harmony?" There was a light knock at my door. "Come in, Zuko" I said turning the page of my book and looking up to see his face. He had a look in his eyes. He was carrying a bag and dropped it down in front of me. "Zhao has captured the Avatar. Want to help me?" I picked up the blue spirit mask that had dropped out of the bag.

"Who's going to be the blue spirit?" I asked smirking holding up the mask. He snatched it from my hands and handed me a white mask. I smirked as he handed me an all-black outfit. "Get dressed and meet me out in the hallway in five minutes. He walked out and I quickly changed into my black outfit. I needed a weapon. I couldn't use my firebending. I looked on my wall to see my father's daggers. I picked them off the wall and tossed one into the wall. It stuck and I picked up my mask pulling the dagger out of the wall as I walked to my door. I opened it to see Zuko.

"I see you are going to use your father's daggers." I nodded and placed them into my belt. We jogged off the ship and into the woods.

000

We were knelt down overlooking the crowd that was below us. I had my white mask on and Zuko had his blue spirit mask. Zhao was giving a speech about how he had captured the Avatar. I growled and gripped the wall. Zuko grabbed my arm and we snuck past the guards into the building. I jogged ahead of Zuko and held out my hand for him to stop. He did and I pointed at the four guards that were standing into front of a large door.

"He has to be in there." I whispered. "Get their attention." Zuko said to me. I looked at him in shocked; I knew he couldn't see my face. "How?" I hissed. Zuko glanced around before pulling out my dagger and cutting through my shirt. I looked down to see my bare stomach. He handed me back my dagger and pulled me up. He wanted me to use my body to draw them towards Zuko, so he could attack them.

I got up and walked towards the guards. I cleared my throat and they jumped to life. "Who are you? Show yourself!"

I placed my hand on my hips and giggled. I made my voice as girly as possible, "Hey hotstuff, why don't you come take this mask off yourself." I giggled again. One of the guards smirked and walked towards me. I dashed down the hallway giggling and he chase after me. I looked up to see Zuko holding himself up against the ceiling. I stopped and turned around to see the guard. "Hey cutie."

I giggled and pointed up at Zuko. Zuko dropped down quickly and grabbed the guard. I pulled out my shirt that Zuko cut off and wrapped it around his mouth. I placed my fingers over my mouth motioning the guard to keep quiet. I picked his helmet off his head and tossed it to the ground. I did a back flip and hid behind a pillar while Zuko climbed back into his hiding spot. Two guards walked into view. I grabbed the one closest to me and pulled a rope from my bag. I flipped over the guard as he tried to stab me. I grabbed one of his arms and kicked his feet out from under him. I hog tied him and knocked him out. I looked over to see that Zuko had taken down his guard as well.

"Three down. One to go." I whispered over to Zuko. He placed his hand on my lower back and leaned in close to me. "Take him out." I smirked behind my mask and cartwheeled back into the hallway. The guard ran towards me and I easily dodged every move he made towards me. I pulled out my dagger and shoved him up against the wall. Zuko appeared and took the keys from the guard. I tied him up as Zuko unlocked the door.

I walked in to see the Aang chained to the wall. He was badly beaten and I felt really bad for him. "Who are you?" I didn't answer him. Zuko pulled out his swords and charged towards Aang. He screamed and closed his eyes as Zuko tore through the chains that were holding him. Aang dropped down to the ground and finally opened his eyes.

"Thanks." Zuko walked out of the room and I walked over to the kid yanking him up by the collar. Half froze frogs dropped out his shirt and he began to try to pick them up. "I need these for my sick friends!" I rolled my eyes and pulled him up by his collar dragging him out of the room. Zuko motioned for us to follow him closely. We knelt down and looked up through the bars of the drain to see if anyone was coming. "It's clear." Aang opened up the drain and held us hand out to Zuko. Zuko took it and helped me up.

I saw the rope hanging from the wall that held us climb in. Aang rushed towards the rope and began climbing. Zuko patted me on the butt and I glared at him through my mask. I climbed a little faster. "The Avatar has escaped!" Guards began to appear everywhere. One of the guards set fire to the rope causing us to fall. Aang blew to the ground stopping him from hitting the ground. He grabbed me, but let Zuko hit the ground.

Zuko jumped up and pulled me towards him. I pulled out my daggers while Zuko pulled out his swords. A guard rushed towards me and I kicked him in the head. We began running towards the door of the wall when guards dropped down in front of Zuko and I. I yelped as one shot fire at me. I tossed my dagger at him hitting him in the shoulder. I rushed towards him and pulled it out of his shoulder.

The Avatar was almost free. He stopped, I wanted to scream at him to keep going, but I knew he would know my voice. I kept quiet. He ran back to help Zuko and I. "Grab on!" Aang wrapped his arm around my waist and Zuko grabbed his arm. We took flight, but we were shot down. I landed roughly on the wall. I was about to sit up when I felt a hand on my back holding me down, "Stay down!" Zuko hissed close to my ear. I did as I was told and he flipped over me taking out four guards.

He helped me up and Aang ran towards me. He picked me up and told Zuko to jump on this shoulder. We jumped from bamboo to another. We were right near the exit when a fire spot right next to my head.

"Stop right there. We do not want the Avatar getting killed." Zuko looked at me and pulled his swords around Aang's neck. I stood in front of them with my daggers out. "Let them go." I heard the gate being open. We slowly made our way out. We were almost as far as we could get.

Two arrows made their way towards us. I was hit in the shoulder while Zuko was hit right on the forehead. I dropped the ground and Zuko collapsed. I whimpered and held onto my shoulder. Aang had a cloud of dust surround us. Aang looked at Zuko on the ground and pulled his mask off. He gasped and jumped back.

He looked back around at me. He reached out gently for my mask and took it off. "Run" I whispered. He jumped up and I crawled towards Zuko. I didn't know how I was going to carry him when I had this bad wound on my shoulder. Aang was by my side around picking up Zuko.

"I'll lead them away. I'll find you." I whispered as he carried off Zuko. I placed my mask back on and the dust cloud cleared. "There she is!" I ran and ran.

000

I jumped from tree to tree. I saw Zuko and Aang sitting on the ground below me. I dropped down and tore off my mask. Aang sat up straighter and looked at me. I dropped to the ground and rested my back against the tree. I reached up and pulled the rest of the arrow out of my shoulder.

"Take a picture it will last longer." I hissed tying a piece of my ripped shirt wrapping it around my wound. "I'm trying to figure this entire thing out." He whispered.

"If you love him so much, why don't you stop him?" I looked up at him and sighed. "Because if he has you. He will be able to return home, and then he will be happy again." I whispered. Aang knelt down in front of me. He brushed my hair back from my face. Zuko stirred and I looked over at him. Aang kept his eyes on me.

"You need to be happy." He whispered. I looked away from him and Aang took a step away from me. He went back to sitting where he was. I noticed Zuko was sitting up and staring at him. Aang looked at him, "I used to have a friend from the fire nation… Do you think we will ever be friends?" Zuko answered by shooting fire at him.

000

"Where have you two been?" Iroh asked as we dragged ourselves back onto the ship. I nodded and kept walking while Zuko muttered something that I couldn't make out. We told him we were heading to bed. I walked about to open my door when Zuko stopped me.

"Stay with me." I slowly nodded and walked down to his room. I climbed into his bed and watched him as he took off his shirt. He climbed in next to me and wrapped his arm around me. I sighed and closed my eyes. I held my arm against my body so the pain wouldn't be so bad.

"I love you, Harmony." I picked my head up and looked at him. He smiled and closed his eyes. "I love you too." I whispered against his chest as I slowly fell asleep.


	12. Chapter 12

I was practicing some of my firebending when this lady sitting on a huge creature jumped onto our ship. A guard quickly stood in front of me as Zuko stormed up to the girl. The huge creature began to tear apart the ship. "What are you doing to my ship?" Zuko yelled.

"You have a stowaway on your ship." The creature ripped up another part of the ship and a man I have never seen before I ran out. The creature licked the man causing him to the hit the ground. "Did that thing just paralyze him?" I whispered watching as the girl jumped off the creature and tied the man throwing him onto the creature. She jumped back on her creature and was gone in a blink of an eye.

"She's a bounty hunter, isn't she?!" I yelled as the crew members looked around at the damage. I felt around my neck and tug off my necklace. "Zuko, we need to find her again." She could help us, that thing was able to smell that man. I had Katara's necklace, that thing could smell out the Avatar. She was always with the Avatar.

"Yes, she needs to pay for my damaged ship." Zuko hissed. "No, you idiot. That thing has a good nose. We give this to her and we can find the Avatar. Her scent still has to be on this." Zuko snatched the necklace from me and grinned. He rushed off to find Iroh. I turned back to the crew members to see if I could help at all.

000

We had been searching for hours. We found out her name was June. We found her in a bar where she was drinking tea and arm wrestling the men. "Out of the way, filth!" Zuko yelled pushing his way through the men.

"He means no offense. I'm sure you bathe regularly." Iroh yelled at the men that Zuko pushed away. Zuko rushed over to June and slammed his hands down in front of her. "I am not paying for your ship." She went back to drinking her tea and completely ignored him. I pushed him out of the way and held the necklace in front of her face.

"We need you to find someone for us. If you do find her, we'll not make you pay for the ship, but will also give you your weight in gold." She smirked and looked at Iroh. "Make it his weight and you have yourself a deal." Iroh chuckled and agreed. We walked out of the bar and she walked over to her creature. The creature was a shirshu and went by the name of Nyla. She took the necklace out of my hand and held it up to the shirshu's nose.

"Are you looking for revenge or something?" She asked me. "Did he dump you for this girl or something? Honey, you are too pretty for him." She placed her hand on my shoulder and I chuckled. "We are looking for the boy she is travelling with." Zuko snapped. The shirshu caught the smell of Katara and we climbed on.

Our first stop was a little village that looked like it was torn to pieces by something large. Zuko began to question them. "Let's go, Zuko. He's not here!" I snapped pulling him back onto the shirshu. The shirshu leaped into action. I felt the wind whipping through my hair and I knew we were travelling extremely fast. We stopped at another village and the shirshu began to circle around in the same spot.

What was it doing? Then I realized that Katara must have spent a lot of time here. Iroh began to flirt with a little old lady. I rolled my eyes and chuckled, whenever he had the chance he would find some way to flirt with a woman. First June and now this lady. Iroh was a little ladies man.

The shirshu jerked suddenly and I almost fell off. Iroh quickly grabbed me and Zuko looked back at me. "Hey, take it easy! You almost knock Harmony off." Zuko hissed to June. She took her whip and snapped it at Zuko. I glared; she was someone we really didn't need to mess with. The shirshu was dogging trees left and right. The way it was running, I knew we were getting close. Extremely close. The shirshu suddenly stopped. I flew off and landed on someone. I looked down to see Sokka.

Katara was paralyzed on the ground. "Hiya" I said smirking. He glared and punched me in the face causing me to fly off of him. The shirshu quickly licked him causing him to go down to. I sat up and placed my fingers to my lips. I pulled it back and saw blood. I growled and jumped up running towards him.

June jumped down in front of me stopping me dead in my tracks. "You better tie them up before your little girlfriend kills them, ponytail." Zuko blushed and snapped the rope from Iroh's hand. Zuko quickly tied up Katara and threw her on the back of the shirshu. Zuko was a little rougher with Sokka than he was with Katara.

"Where is he?" I hissed leaning in close to Sokka's face. He looked up at me and actually looked scared. Sokka didn't say anything, so I grabbed him by his shirt pulling his face closer to mine. "Tell me." I hissed.

"I don't know. We separated." I growled and looked at Zuko, who picked him up and tossed him onto the back of the shirshu. Zuko looked at me and placed his hands on my shoulders. Iroh smirked and looked at June, "When Harmony is angry… She is a force to be reckoned with. She thinks more clearly when angry."

June raised an eyebrow and smirked, "I like her."

"Tell me what you are thinking." I looked over at the siblings. They had to be staying somewhere and if they had just separated Aang couldn't be far. If we went and destroyed the village, someone would go run after Aang… He would walk straight to us. I walked over to Katara and stared her down. "Where have you been staying?" I lit my hand with fire and held it close to her face. She knew there would be no way for her to not get burn.

"A village. About two miles back that way." She whispered. I looked at June, "You heard her." She smirked and jumped back on her shirshu. I climbed back on and we were off again.

000

"Are you sure about this?" Zuko asked jumping off the shirshu. I didn't say anything. A gust of wind shot me and Zuko back. I jumped up and began firing at him. Aang knocked me over and went for Zuko. They were fighting on top of a well. Zuko fell and Aang did a backflip knocking me over. I kicked him and he yanked my arms behind my back.

"I'll be taking that back." He ripped the necklace off my neck and sent me flying into the arms of Zuko. The shirshu began to go crazy and I noticed Katara bending something out of vases. Whatever it was, it was causing Nyla to lose his mind. He began licking everything. June was the first victim.

Then it was me and Zuko. Zuko still had his arms around me, so when we hit the ground… We were face to face. Our lips were so close; I could feel his breath on my face.

"Well, my plan somewhat worked." I whispered. He rolled his eyes and looked over at Iroh, who was holding onto June. "Uncle, I didn't see you get hit with the tongue." Iroh chuckled and closed his eyes. I laughed what could I say. Iroh was a charmer.


	13. Chapter 13

I was practicing my firebending with Iroh when I noticed Zhao walking onto our ship. I stopped and Iroh stopped following my stare. Why was he on my ship? I mean Zuko's ship… I tried not to groan when I noticed I was wearing a strapless shirt. My wound was healing, but it still was bad. He was going to know I helped the Avatar escape. Iroh began to talk to him and I over hear him say that he was no longer a commander, he was an admiral now. I growled, who would give him a better job.

"Harmony." Iroh called to me and I walked over to him. We all made our way to the Zuko's bedroom. We stepped in and I stood next to Zuko. I had no idea what was going on. "Admiral Zhao is taking our crew. Even the cook." Iroh broke out into tears and my jaw tensed up.

"What?! You can't take my crew!" Zuko yelled. "But I can. Oh Harmony?" I froze and looked at Zhao. He was staring right at my shoulder. Zuko looked down at me and bit down on his lip. "What happened to your shoulder?" I couldn't open my mouth to even answer him. How was I going to explain this?

"We were playing around with her father's daggers. She fell and accidently stabbed herself. She is clumsy when I'm around." Zuko chuckled wrapping his arm around my waist. I choke out a chuckle and shrugged. Zhao looked around Zuko's room and I saw the swords that Zuko used hanging on the wall. Zhao's eyes locked on the swords and turned back towards Zuko.

"Those swords? Can you use them?" I looked at Zuko. "No, I can't. They are old. I have never used them." I felt his fingers dig into my hip and I held my breath. Zhao nodded and then left just like that. Iroh followed him out. I let out my breath and Zuko let go of me. He turned me around to face him and he looked pissed. He looked at my shoulder, and then shook his head.

"Just be more careful." I raised an eyebrow and left his room. That was odd. I was used to Zuko blowing up at me.

000

"Harmony, would you like to go with me on a walk?" I looked up from my book. I placed a bookmark in my book. "Of course, Iroh." I stood up and followed him. He stopped by Zuko's room, but Zuko said no. There was a feeling in my gut that I needed to bring Zuko with me. I shook my head and slowly followed Iroh. I was just being over protective.

"Harmony how is your shoulder?" Iroh asked me as he took my hand and wrapped it around his elbow. I smiled and held onto his elbow. "Much better." He nodded and strokes his beard. I was looking around the woods near us and I felt completely relaxed. We were about a mile or two from the ship now. I heard an explosion from behind us. I turned around quickly and saw smoke clouding the sky.

"Zuko!" Iroh yelled running towards the ship. I took off easily past Iroh and stopped. The ship was destroyed. It was on fire. I dropped to my knees, "No." Iroh knelt down beside me and gather me up in his arms. I began crying. Things were starting to look up and now he was dead. The only boy I have ever loved just died. I whimpered and grabbed onto Iroh like my life depended on it. Iroh pulled me up, I heard some talking, but didn't dare look up.

000

Everything is a blur. I'm on Zhao's ship getting pampered while Iroh was gone. Yesterday, Zuko died in a traffic accident. Iroh had me carried off while he looked through the ship to see if anything survived it. I haven't spoken since then. If someone talked to me I would just stare at them or nod to show that I was listening. I tried to stay clear of Zhao, but he seemed to be popping up wherever I went. He told his crew members to treat me like a princess.

I just wanted to be left alone. "Harmony, Admiral Zhao wants to have dinner with you and General Iroh." The crew member bowed and I got up. I walked down the hallway and sighed. We were following the Avatar to the North Pole and all they every talked about was battle plans. I would just stare at the wall till I was dismissed.

I stopped and turned around to see a guard watching me closely. I shook my head and walked into the room. Zhao stood up and bowed. Iroh remained sitting and drinking his tea. I sat down next to Iroh and began to eat. They began talking and I did what I did best. I completely ignored them.

"Harmony?" I looked away from the wall and at Zhao. "I am very sorry about Zuko. My crew has said that you haven't spoken at all." I felt Iroh placed his hand on my knee. I swallowed my tears and stood up. I walked out of the room and saw a line of guards standing outside. I looked at them and each one of them bowed, but one just stared at me. The one next to him nudged him and he dropped his head.

I opened my door and plopped down on my bed. I just wanted Zuko back. I actually missed his blow ups. I missed his scar. I missed his ponytail and I really missed that rare smile he did. I picked up my pillow and placed it over my head. I wanted him back.

000

I have been watching Harmony from afar. Iroh had found me after he sent off Harmony to Zhao's ship. He snuck me onto the ship and I have been playing a guard ever since. I was having such a hard time keeping my cool. The guards were always talking about how beautiful Harmony was and I had heard she had been crying nonstop. She even refused to talk.

I stood next to some guard waiting outside of Zhao's dining room. I knew my uncle and Harmony were in there. I needed to talk to my uncle. The door opened and Harmony stepped out. Her eyes were wet and puffy. Her eyes were down cast to the ground. She looked up and all the other guards bowed while I was in awe over Harmony. Even though she was crying, she took my breath away like always. The guard beside me nudged me. I quickly bowed my head.

Once Harmony was out of the sight, all the guard disappeared. They were just waiting for her to come out to gawk at her. That made me furious. I was about to walk away when Iroh stepped out of the room. I froze and bowed my head. Iroh stepped closer to me and looked down the hall.

"Zhao doesn't expect a thing. Once we get close to the North Pole, the Avatar will be yours. But I suggest you go visit Harmony." I pulled down my mask. "Thank you, Uncle." I placed my mask back and walked towards Harmony's room. I paused in front of her door and glanced down the hallway. No one was coming. I pulled opened her door and closed it behind me quietly.

Harmony was lying on her bed with her pillow over her face. Suddenly she sat up and stared at me. She raised an eyebrow and sighed. I pulled off my mask and helmet. I looked up at her and smiled. She sat up and tears began to flow down from her face. "Am I dreaming?" She whispered placing her hand over her mouth.

"No." I whispered. I felt tears welding up in my eyes. She actually missed me. She jumped up on her bed and dove off her bed into my arms. I easily caught her and she wrapped her legs around my waist. I held her close to my body and felt her body shake with tears. She pulled back and placed her finger tips on the edge of my scar.

My heart melted. I placed her on her bed and grabbed her chin with my hand. I brought her lips up to mine and kissed her with so much love. I have wanted to do this since I was thirteen. Now that I was actually doing it, I was falling even harder for her. She wrapped her arms around my neck and brought me in closer. I sighed into the kiss and felt her melt underneath my hands.

This is the happiest I have felt in a long time. She pulled back and smiled. "Finally, you put on your big boy pants." She whispered. I rolled my eyes, "You just had to ruin the moment." I joked; she chuckled and hugged me tight.


	14. Chapter 14

We were a day away from the North Pole. I had still kept up my no speaking because I knew it would seem weird if I just suddenly started talking again. Zuko would come sneak into my room late, so I could catch him up on what was happening. Zhao was having Iroh meeting him every day, so Iroh never had any time to find Zuko to tell him what was going on.

"Zhao has been talking about the moon spirit a lot." I said dabbing some medicine on Zuko's cuts. He winced and nodded, "Waterbenders are more powerful at night. Zhao thinks if he takes out the moon spirit, he'll take over the North Pole." Zuko explained. I sighed and shook my head. "He's an idiot. Doesn't he realize that all of us will be affected?"

"What do you mean?" Zuko asked gently pushing my hand down away from his face. I got up from my bed and walked over to my desk. I opened a drawer and pulled out a burnt book. I dropped it on his lap, "Open to chapter six." He looked shocked that it had survived. I was so happy when Iroh found that. The edges were burnt, but it was still readable and that was fine by me.

He read over it and his eyes widen. "Oh wow."

"I told you that book was useful" I smirked and he laughed handing me back the burnt book.

000

"Now remember your fire breath, that will save your life." Iroh said as Zuko lowered the canoe into the icy water below. Zuko and I were both wearing all white. I had come up with this. We would really bend into the snow and ice. I was just worry about the cold. I have never been able to deal with the cold. Iroh walked over to me and pulled up my hood. "Now both of you wear your hood, it will keep you warmer." Zuko held out his hand for me and he lowered me into the canoe.

"Zuko, watch her. You know how badly her body reacts to the cold." I smiled up at Iroh. He was acting like we were his children. "I know, Uncle." Zuko said gently climbing in behind me in the canoe.

"I'm sorry. I feel like you two are my own children." Iroh said smiling. "We will be fine, Iroh. Don't worry." I said as Zuko pushed away from the ship. Zuko began paddling and I couldn't help, but be amazed at how large the wall of the Northern Water Tribe was. The Fire Nation had such a hard time taking over the Northern Water Tribe. The benders were just too powerful. Zuko stopped the canoe and I climbed onto the bank. We pulled the canoe up and glanced around at the wall.

"Have you figured out how we are getting in?" I asked wrapping my arms around me warming my hands to keep me warm. Zuko shook his head and I turned around to the sound of a seal. They were diving into a little hole in the ice, but they weren't coming back up for air. I nudged Zuko and showed him.

"They have to be coming up for air somewhere else." Zuko said looked down into the hole. "How long can you hold your breath?" He asked looking back up at me. "We're about to find out aren't we?" I took a deep breath and dived into the freezing cold water. The water shocked me at first, but I soon began to follow Zuko. I felt my arms and legs beginning to go numb. I watched as the seals flew past me and Zuko. I rushed after them and saw where they were surfacing. I flew to the top and gasped for air. Zuko popped up beside me and dragged himself onto the ice. He yanked me up and I rested my head on his shoulder. He sat up and began using his fire breath. I took a deep breath and let out my fire breath feeling my body warm up. Zuko stood up and helped me up.

He pushed past the seals and I followed closely behind him. I looked up and saw a waterfall. "We are going to climb that, aren't we?" I asked. He nodded and jogged over to the waterfall. He dived into it and began climb. I followed him. It was so hard climbing against the water current. I lost my footing a couple of times but kept on.

I gasped for air and noticed we were in a little cave with water filled to the ceiling. "What are we going to do now?" I asked shaking. Zuko took a deep breath and dived back into the water before popping back up. "Hold my hand." I took a deep breath and dived down with him. We swam around a little and I felt my air growing shot. My lungs were burning. Were we going to survive? Zuko began to swim quickly to the top.

He pounded on the ice, but it wouldn't break. He placed his hands on the ice and it began melting. I placed my hands next to him causing the ice to melt even faster. The ice broke and Zuko swam to the surface. He yanked me up and I took in a deep breath. He pulled me up into the tunnel and I collapsed.

"Well, at least we survived that." I gasped sitting up and rest my back up against the tunnel wall. Zuko chuckled and nodded. "We need to keep going. Come on" I groaned and followed him warming myself up with my fire breath.

000

"Perfect." I whispered peering over into the little building. The Avatar was mediating and by the way he was glowing I knew he was in the spirit world. Katara was the only one sitting with him. Two against one. "This is will be easy." Zuko jumped down and I jumped down beside him. Katara turned around quickly and gasped.

"We'll be taking him." I said walking towards Aang. She whipped water at me and I quickly dodged it shooting a fire ball at her. She shot some more water at me and I dodged it by doing a back flip sending a fire kick her way. She blocked it easily and shot water at me. It turned to ice and hit me in the stomach. It cut through my outfit. I placed my hand heavily against my wound and pulled my hand back to see blood. Zuko was pinned to the wall by ice.

"You little peasant! You found a master, didn't you?" Zuko hissed easily melting through the ice. I growled and kicked her in the stomach causing her to go flying into a tree. Zuko walked over to Aang and grabbed him by the collar. She formed a water whip and flung us into a wall. I grunted and held my stomach. Zuko was once again trapped in ice. The moon was the reason why she was so powerful right now. I felt the sun coming up and Zuko jumped out of the ice. He attacked her causing her to go flying into the tree knocking her out.

"You rise with the moon. Harmony and I rise with the sun." Zuko walked over to Aang and picked him up throwing him over his shoulder. I walked over to Katara to make sure she was still alive. I nudged her with my foot and didn't move. "She's out. Let's get out of here." I said pushing Zuko along. I tried hiding the fact that I was bleeding badly. I pulled my hood up as we walked back into the snow.

000

Of course, we would get stuck in a blizzard. I felt my entire body went numb. Since my outfit was ripped from Katara, I was even colder. I was losing a lot of blood, but kept my hand held tight against it. "We need to find shelter." I yelled over the howling winds. Zuko nodded and looked around. He pointed to a cave and we began walking towards it.

I heard a crack and looked down at my feet. The ice was breaking. Zuko took off running and I tried keeping up with him. I jumped and landed beside him. I tried getting up, but I couldn't. "Harmony?" Zuko placed Aang down and turned me over. I hissed and removed my hand. I looked at the snow and saw it was covered in my blood. "Why didn't you tell me you were hurt?" Zuko dragged Aang in first then carried me into the cave.

He reached into his bag and pulled out some rope tying Aang up. He pulled out a bandaged and lifted up my shirt to wrap it around my stomach. "Try to get some rest." I nodded and rested my back against the wall.

"Of course, we would get stuck in the blizzard. It seems like every time I have you, there is always something in my way. I don't mind it though. It makes me stronger. I remember my father saying that Azula was born lucky while I was lucky to be born. I don't need to be luck though. All my hardships have made me strong." Zuko was standing at the mouth of the cave staring out into the blizzard. I knew he wasn't talking to me. He was talking to the Avatar.

It's sad that I wasn't shocked that the Fire Lord said that to his son. A blue light lit up the cave and I looked over to the Avatar. He returned back to his body. I stood up and rested my hand against the wall to support my weight. Aang met my eyes and jumped up. Zuko and I rushed out into the blizzard to grab him. Zuko shot fire and was met with water. He dropped to the ground. I growled and began my attack. Aang hit me with some air knocking me to the ground. I tried getting up, but dropped. I was so weak.

"Come on, Aang!" I heard Sokka yelling over at Aang, but I just couldn't get up. I felt myself slowly drifting off. If they left us, we'll be dead within minutes. "We can't leave them. They'll die." I heard Sokka groan and then footsteps towards me.

"I'll tie her up, and Aang, you get him." I felt someone gently roll me over and then Sokka moved my hair out of my face. I felt him tie my hands and legs up. He picked me up and I felt being placed back down. "Oh no, she hurt. She's bleeding." Katara's gentle voice was near me.

Katara's voiced faded and I passed out. The pain from my stomach and the coldness… My body just couldn't take it anymore. It seemed like hours past when I felt my body being jerked around. I opened my eyes to see Zuko, hurrying to untie me. He scooped me up in his arms and dropped down from Appa.

"Can you walk?" I nodded and he placed me down. He wrapped his arm around my waist and we began running. I stopped short when I noticed someone. "It's Zhao." I nudged Zuko and he walked quickly over to where Zhao was. That's when I realized something was odd. I looked up at the sky and saw the moon was blood red. Zhao must have killed the moon spirit.

"Prince Zuko!" Zhao turned around and I walked quickly over to Zuko. "I thought you were dead."

"You tried to have me killed!" Zuko yelled and began attacking him. "Harmony was actually supposed to die too, but she was smart she left the ship. You two were the spirits that let me lose the Avatar!" Zhao began to attack back. I watched as they battled it out and saw something that completely shocked me. I ran over to the bridge and stepped up on the rail to get a better look. It was a blue water monster. It was attacking the Fire Nation ships; it was destroying them like they were plastic. What was that thing?

Once the monster destroyed all the ships it began to walk away. It disappeared and in a matter of seconds it was right in front of me. I gasped and stared up at it. Was it going to attack me? His arm went around me and grabbed Zhao. The monster used its other arm to knock me off the rail.

Zuko caught me and stared up at the monster. It was dragging Zhao towards the water. "It's going to drown him" I said to Zuko. Zuko let go of me and jumped up on the rail holding out his hand for Zhao. "Take my hand!" Zhao looked as if he was about to, but then quickly withdrew his hand away from Zuko.

Zuko stood there for a while looking to where Zhao once was. "Zuko, we need to go!" I yelled pointing up to the moon. The moon spirit was back, which meant that the waterbenders were about to be powerful again. He nodded and jumped down from the rail grabbing my hand.

000

We had met back up with Iroh and now we were floating on a big piece of wood. Zuko was standing up looking out to the water while I was sitting crossed legged on the floor. "Harmony, you need some rest. Close your eyes." Iroh said. I nodded and curled up closing my eyes.

"Prince Zuko?" Iroh spoke gently. "I almost had him." Zuko whispered back. "You will be able to capture him again." Iroh moved and I cracked one eye opened to see him placing his hand on Zuko's shoulder. Zuko sighed and looked over to me. I quickly closed my eyes again.

"She almost lost her life. I am so tired." Zuko said.

"She didn't. You protected her just like you promised. Now, you need your rest." Zuko didn't answer Iroh. I heard movement, then felt an arm wrap around my waist. I sighed and curled up into Zuko's arms. His warmth caused me to finally get some sleep.


	15. Chapter 15

**Hey guys!**

**Happy Thanksgiving! Sorry, it is taking so long to update! Bare with me, I am a full time college student and I am currently writing a book. So whenever I have down time, I write! Thanks for all the reviews!**

**Happy reading!**

**000 **

"This was a great idea, Iroh." I whispered while I was getting my massage. It seemed like we were floating on that drift wood for years, but it was about a week. Now we were in the Earth Kingdom. Zuko was sitting against a tree with a sour expression on his face. "A little lower, please" I said. Zuko looked over at me and glared, "I suggest you don't go down any further." Zuko hissed. I rolled my eyes and told the guy to ignored Zuko. The guy seemed scared so I got up and went to sit next to Zuko.

"Today is the day we got banished, huh?" He nodded and sighed. "Three years ago today. We were just thirteen. The Avatar is the only way I am going to be able to go home." He whispered looking away from me and at the ground. I sighed and went to reach for his hand when he yanked it away from me. Iroh came over to us and knelt down beside us.

"You will be able to. I will help till you are able to go home." I smiled and both Iroh and Zuko looked up at me. "Why are you so bitter?" Zuko hissed. I shot up and glared down at him. "Me? I am bitter, but look in the mirror Zuko! You are ten times worse than I am." I stormed back over to the massage table and plopped down. The massager began again starting at my shoulders. Zuko looked away and stared at the wall in front of him.

"Zuko, I do not believe Harmony is bitter." Iroh said scooting over to sit right next to Zuko. Zuko looked at his uncle like he had grown four heads. "Harmony has come to grips with what her destiny is. She knows she will never be able to return to the Fire Nation. She is too much of a threat to your sister." I rested my head on my arms and sighed. He was right. After a year of being on a ship, I came to realize why I was banished.

The Fire Lord knew how incredible insane his daughter. That's why he enjoyed her being his daughter. She was just like her father. He wanted her to take the throne. Not Zuko. Zuko was too sweet and caring; he would be able to finish this war. If Azula was Fire Lord, well, let's just say… I don't think there will be a world left. Zuko was weak in his father's eyes. He didn't think Zuko would have the guts to kill his own sister.

Me, on the other hand… Wouldn't think twice. If I came back to the Fire Nation, I would never allow Azula to take Zuko's right to the throne. I would be the only person on this planet beside the Avatar, who could take on Azula and win. It's her fault really. She trained me. I know all of her moves. She used me as a dummy. I knew all her weak spots. Even though I haven't seen her in three years, I knew I could still take her.

000

"We should start heading back. We need to start cooking dinner." I said tugging on Iroh. He sighed and looked through the shells he got from the beach. He was so excited; I had to actually stop him after a few handfuls. Zuko wasn't really thrilled. We stepped into the little house that we were staying in. I dropped the bag of food we had picked up at the market on the table. Iroh pulled his shells out and began looking at them. I glanced over my shoulder and just this really uneasy feeling. Something was not right.

I felt like I was being watched. I turned around to see Azula crushing one of Iroh's shells in her hand. "What are you doing here?" Zuko snapped. "Zuzu, aren't you excited to see me? Or has Harmony turned you against me?" I glared at her and stepped forward. Iroh grabbed my arm and pulled me to a stop.

"Prince Zuko does not mean that, Princess Azula. He is just shocked to see you here as we all are." Azula rolled her eyes at her uncle and stepped over to the window to look out. "Shut up, Uncle!" She yelled, I growled and felt flames shooting out of my hands. She looked me up and down, she smirked. She knew I hated when she showed Iroh disrespect.

"I have a message from father. He wants you home. Father, regrets your banishment." Zuko's face softened and I looked at Azula. "Father is starting to realize how important family really is." She had to be lying. The Fire Lord would never regret anything. That just doesn't sound like him. This had to be a trap or at least I hope it was. "Father regrets." Zuko was talking to himself. He looked at me and he looked so sad.

He knew if this was true, I wasn't going with them. "What about Harmony?" Zuko asked still with his eyes locked on me. "Of course, she can come with us." I looked away from Zuko and looked at her. She had a faint smile on her face. She was lying. I have seen that smile on her face many times when she was lying. Any time, she said she wasn't going to injure me… She had that smile on her face. I had the scars to prove it.

"I'll leave you alone to think about it." She walked out of our door just like that. Zuko began to pack up his things and I just couldn't move. Iroh placed his arm around my shoulder, "What are you thinking?"

"She's lying." I whispered. I didn't know what she was up to, but she was lying. I knew her better than anyone. I have been around her since I was six, I watched her like a hawk to see if I could better understand her. I knew every step she was going to take before she even took them. "Harmony, hurry and pack!" Zuko sounded so excited. I needed to tell him the truth. He was letting his excitement cloud his judgment. In all my years of knowing her, she was never nice to Zuko like she was today.

"Zuko, I think this is a trap. She's lying to you." I said walking towards him. He glared at me, "What would you know?! She's my sister."

"How many times has she lied to you in the past? Zuko, think!" Zuko was in my face within seconds. I took a step back and ready myself in case he attacked. Iroh stepped between us and pushed Zuko back a little. "Zuko, I believe Harmony is right. Harmony has spent a lot more time with your sister than you. You were banished to find the Avatar, the Avatar is alive… Why would your father bring you back? My brother never regrets"

Zuko picked up his bag and threw it over his shoulder. "What would you two know?! You're just an old fool, who's jealous of his brother… And you!" He pointed his finger at me. "You are just a bitter person, who will get nowhere in life!" He stormed out of the house and I sighed looking down at the ground. I knew he didn't mean that. At least I didn't think he did. His anger was out of control. I had to follow him onto that ship. I needed to protect him.

Iroh walked over to me and handed me my bag. "With you and I there, we can protect him." I smiled and took it from him. We dashed out of the house and began running towards the beach. I saw Zuko and Iroh called out to him.

"Uncle! Harmony! You changed your mind." Zuko looked so happy. I smiled, "We gotta stick together, right?"

000

We began walking up the ramp to Azula's ship. It just didn't feel right. All of the guards were extremely tense and wouldn't meet our eyes. Azula welcomed us, that wasn't normal. She was being way to nice. "Captain, we are going home!" Azula called out.

"We are returning to the Fire Nation with the prisoners." The captain yelled. Iroh began to attack the guards with Zuko while I took off after Azula. I jumped onto the ship and she shot her famous blue fire at me. I easily dodged it and returned fire. She jumped out of the way and smirked. "You knew the whole time, didn't you?"

"Of course, I did. You know I will always be one step ahead of you, but I couldn't let you hurt Zuko." I began my attack again and she dodged every move. I dodged all of her moves. Zuko joined in and was making things worse. I pushed him down and sent her a fire kick her way. It knocked her over and I helped Zuko up.

"We need to run!"

"No! I'm going to finish this." Zuko pushed me out of the way. "You should start listening to Harmony. She knows me better than anyone. Why would father bring you back?! He thinks you're a traitor. The Fire Nation's downfall at the North Pole was all Uncle's fault. And Harmony will never be able to go back unless, she's in chains."

Zuko growled and I grabbed his arm. I pulled him away and I noticed Azula was about to unleash some lighting. I stood in front of Zuko, so I would be able to redirect it, but Iroh grabbed her hand redirecting it. He pushed her off the ship and we took off running into the woods.

I ran and ran. Zuko and Iroh were right behind me. I knew if we didn't get deep into the woods, she would be able to find us easily. I dropped to my knees in front of a little stream.

"I think we lost them." Zuko breathe out. "You need to listen to me more often! Next time, I'm letting you get killed by Azula." I hissed smacking him on the shoulder. He rolled his eyes and reached into his pocket pulling out his knife that Iroh had gotten for him a long time ago. The same knife that cut my hand years ago, he gripped it in his hands. He reached up and cut off his ponytail and then handed it to Iroh. Iroh did the same and then handed it to be.

"I am not cutting my hair." I hissed, Zuko glared at me. "You are known for your long black hair." I pulled my braided bun to the side of my head and cut through it in one try. The bun dropped into my hand and my hair fan out around my head. My hair was no longer to my lower back, but a little bit above my shoulders.

"Happy?" Iroh smiled and threw his hair into the stream. I tossed mine in along with Zuko's. I watched as my bun floated down the stream. I reached my hand up and began to rebraid my hair. It barely made a ponytail.

"We need to make camp." Iroh said standing up. Zuko stood up and began to gather up sticks while I just stared into the stream in front of me. Now we weren't just banished.

Now we were traitors of our nation.

Now we had a bounty on our heads.


	16. Chapter 16

"Do we stick to hiding in the Earth Kingdom or go somewhere else?" Zuko asked as we sat around the fire. I brought my knees up to my chest and sighed. "There has to be a bounty out on us now. Azula will make sure of that. Which is worse… Getting captured by earthbenders or Azula?" I asked. Iroh and Zuko glanced at each other before sighing.

"So?"

"We'll stay in the Earth Kingdom." Zuko said quickly. I chuckled and walked over to the stream to see if I could catch some fish. Well, I had no luck at all. I gave up after an hour and began to head back to camp. I walked to see Iroh holding up a flower. "What are you doing?" I asked.

Iroh turned around with his face all swollen. I gasped and rushed over to him to see he was holding a White Jade bush in his hands. Zuko rushed over, "You didn't!"

"I did. But look what I found." I growled and dragged him to his feet. Zuko knocked the berries out of his hands. We began walking to the nearest town. I was really hoping he wouldn't die by the time we got there. Because I was going to kill him once he got better. What kind of person makes a plant into a tea without knowing what the plant was?!

It didn't take us long to find someone who could help Iroh. "My name is Song." She said smiling as she treated Iroh. "Um I'm Lee" Zuko said awkwardly waving. Oh no, what was going to be my name. "I am Mushi." Iroh said grinning up at Song. She looked at me and I froze, "Uh..." I thought and thought. Then finally, "I'm Lily." For some odd reason, the name Tiger Lily just popped up in my head, so I decided Lily was a cute name for me.

I walked over to the window and stared out. I heard them talking about dinner. Zuko was trying to talk his way out of it, but the second she said they had more than enough… Iroh jumped in head first. I leaned up against the wall as Song finished up with Iroh. We were going to an Earth Kingdom household. Just because we were dressed as earthbenders, doesn't mean they wouldn't notice us from wanted posters of something.

000

"That was a very wonderful dinner. Thank you so much for having us." Iroh said patting his very full belly. Song brought out some tea. Zuko seemed really upset. He and Song began talking about the fire nation. She pointed out his scar and asked where his father was. Zuko lied and said he was fighting in the war. He should have said his father was leading this war.

Zuko had gotten up to get some fresh air, but I stayed. I knew Zuko needed time to himself before he blew up at someone. I was drinking my tea when I noticed that Song was gone as well. I looked at Iroh, who shrugged. I excused myself and stood up to go outside. I walked outside to see Song with her fingers on Zuko's scar.

Zuko grabbed her hand quickly away from his face when he saw me. "H… Lily!" He caught himself before he said Harmony. I shook my head and walked back inside. I was about to slam the door when I hear Song speak. "I'm sorry; she must have gotten the wrong message."

"Listen, she is my girlfriend… I'm not looking for another one." I heard Zuko get up and I walked quickly back over to Iroh, who was saying his goodbyes. Zuko walked quickly over to me and looked me over. He reached out his hand for me and gently took my hand. "You misunderstood." He whispered. I nodded and gave him a smile to show him I wasn't angry at him. We walked outside and began to walk towards the road when Zuko let go of my hand.

He was staring at their ostrich horse that was tied up to a pole. Zuko glanced around before untying the ostrich horse and pulling it over towards me. "No, put it back! They just saved your uncle's life and fed us." I hissed looking back at the house. Iroh stormed over, "Zuko, these people have done a lot for us."

"They are about to give a little more." Zuko knelt down and patted his knee for me. I bit down on my lip and stood on his knee to climb onto the ostrich horse. I scooted back so Zuko could climb on. Iroh groaned and climbed on behind me. This was so wrong. I glanced back at the house to see Song staring out the window.

We travelled a good bit before Zuko pulled off, so we could make camp. I jumped off without taking his hand he offered and went to find sticks. We made a fire and I made myself a little bed. "Harmony?" I ignored Zuko and laid my head down.

"Please, talk to me." I sat up and glared at him. "That was wrong." I hissed noticing that Iroh was already asleep. How that man could fall asleep so quickly, I would never know? "I know Uncle gets tired of walking. I thought it will help us move faster." I looked at him and sighed. He was right there, but he didn't have to steal. We could've found another one somewhere.

"Were you jealous?" I looked up from the fire. Was he talking about Song? Sure, I was upset. "It hurts a lot, you know." I whispered. He knew I wasn't just talking about Song. It was all the times he had blew me off or treated me horribly. Why did I care so much for him? He was a spoiled rotten Prince. Zuko didn't say anything, but looked down sadly.

"Harmony, I really do love you." He grabbed my hands and seemed like he was pleading for me to believe him. I thought back to when I thought he was dead. The kiss. It had so much passion behind it. No one could fake that. "I believe you. I suppose I should give you an easier time. You weren't raised to show off your emotions like I was. It's a work in progress." His face broke out into grin and pulled me into a tight hug.

"I won't let you down." He said pulling back and placing a gentle kiss on my lips. He lay down and I pulled my knees up to my chest starting up the fire again. I should be happy, right? But, deep down I knew this sweet little Zuko wouldn't last very long.


	17. Chapter 17

I was leaning against the wall. We were in a village, pretty much begging for money. Or at least, Iroh was. "Spare change, for an old man." A woman walking by stopped and tossed a sliver piece into his hat. Iroh thanked her and picked it up getting a better look at it. A man walked up and looked at me. "How about a little entrainment or a little date for two silver pieces?"

"We aren't entertainers and she's not a prize to you." Zuko growled clenching his fist together. I reached my hands over to him and placed my hand over one of his. Iroh jumped up and grinned. He began to sing and I smiled. He didn't' care what or who saw him. The man pulled out his swords and began to make Iroh dance. I growl and jumped up. The man looked at me and grinned.

He tossed the pieces into the Iroh's hat and left laughing. "Such a nice man." Iroh said gathering up his things. "More like pathetic." I hissed snatching up my bag. Zuko stared after the man and I saw him hold his bag closer to him. He was thinking something. "Whatever you are planning, count me out." I hissed grabbing his arm dragging him after Iroh. We found a little cave to stay in. I took the money we earned and went back into the market to see if I could buy a little bit of food.

"I'll take three hot meals." I held out my palm and the man looked at it. "That's not enough. That's only enough for two." He looked at me sadly and I sighed. Iroh and Zuko needed to eat. I dumped the money into his hands and he handed me two hot meals. I placed them in my bag and made my way back to our little cave.

By the time I got back, the sun was starting to set. Iroh had a fire going and was making his tea. I handed him his meal and walked over to Zuko. He took it grumpily and began eating. I sat down and picked up a stick moving around the sticks in the fire. Iroh stopped eating and looked at me, "Harmony, where is your meal?"

"We only had enough money for two." Zuko stopped eating and glanced over at Iroh. I stood up and brushed myself off. "I'm going to bed."

000

I woke up in the middle of the night to movement around the cave. I cracked my eye opened to see Zuko walking out of the cave. I got up slowly and followed him. He walked over to a tree and pulled out his blue spirit mask. I stay back, so he wouldn't notice me following him. I saw the man that made Iroh looked like a fool today. I knew what Zuko was up to. I didn't even want to watch. I went back to the tree where Zuko hid his mask and waited.

He came back an hour later. He froze when he saw me. I pushed myself off the tree and took his mask off his face. He had swords now and food. "Why couldn't you just leave it?" I whispered crossing my arms over my chest.

"He showed you and uncle disrespect, he needs to learn not to do that. And the food is for you, you gave up your food for us." He tossed the basket to me. I caught it and placed it down on the ground. "You don't have to steal." I hissed grabbing his arm pulling him to a stop. He turned around and sighed, "Harmony, I am doing whatever I can to keep you safe."

"You know I can handle myself." I growled. "I know, but you have too much of a big heart." He yanked his arm out of my grasp and kissed me on the forehead. He walked back into the cave. I sat down on the ground and began eating.

000

"How long has Zuko been gone?" I asked. He had been gone all day. Iroh and I had just been hanging out in the cave all day not really knowing what to do. "I know what he is doing. Promise me something, Harmony?" He knew about Zuko sneaking out and stealing. I mean, Zuko was doing it for the right reasons, but he still shouldn't be doing that. I nodded and took a drink of my tea, Iroh had just made. "If he decides he no longer needs me and leaves… Go with him and protect him." Protect him? Zuko was a powerful firebender. I think he could handle himself. I wasn't about to question him though.

"Of course, Iroh." Zuko began walking up with buckets full of food and new things. He dropped them down on the ground and walked over to his sleeping bag. "A new tea set? Zuko, do we really need all these new things?" I asked picking up the new dress he got me. It was beautiful, but we were travelling.

"I thought you would enjoy these new things." Zuko said.

"You need to stop stealing. This is not becoming, Zuko." Iroh said stepping forward. I looked at Zuko and saw how furious he looked. "You need to realize what your destiny is!" Zuko stood up quickly and stormed out of the cave. I stood up, but Iroh grabbed my arm pulling me to a stop. "He needs to be alone with his thoughts." I sat back down and sighed.

000

Hours went back and the sun was starting to set and finally Zuko came back. I stood up quickly and began to walk forward. He held his hand up and I stopped in my tracks. "I thought about what you said uncle. I believe we need to go our separate ways." He began packing up his things and was about to leave. Iroh handed me a packed bag and pushed me towards Zuko. I rushed after him and placed my hand on his shoulder.

"You weren't about to leave to leave me, were you?" I smiled and he smiled back at me. Iroh walked forward with the ostrich horse right behind him. "Take this, I have no need for it." Zuko quickly climbed up on the ostrich horse and Iroh helped me up behind Zuko. Zuko thanked uncle and headed off into the woods. I rested my head on Zuko's back and tried to hold back my tears.

I was going to miss Iroh. A lot.


	18. Chapter 18

**Hey guys!**

**I really wanted show off Harmony's character a lot more. We all know Zuko's background story so I thought I would throw in Harmony's memories of the Fire Lord and how she remembers Zuko's mother disappearing. Thanks so much for sticking with this! I am a full time college student and working on a book! So, bare with me when it comes to updating. If any of you guys are big Harry Potter fans… Go check out my Harry Potter stories and other stories I have written.**

**Thanks again for the reviews! **

**000**

We travelled for at least a week and finally we were now wondering into a village. I slid off the ostrich horse and stretched. Zuko pulled out the remaining money we had and walked over to a little food stand. I leaned up against the stand and watched the villagers. I noticed a group of soldiers that looked like they were up to no good. I saw a little kid hiding behind things and finally tossed the egg he was holding at one of the soldiers. He ducked down and the angry soldiers made their way towards me and Zuko.

"Did you see who threw that egg?" He asked Zuko, completely ignoring me.

"No" Zuko said calmly. "Did you throw the egg?"

"No" The soldier growled and turned towards me. He winked at me, "Sweetheart, does all he ever say is no?" I felt Zuko tense up beside me and smirked. "He could punch you in the face, so I would count my blessings if I were you that he is just saying no." He growled and shoved my face away from him. Zuko went to go after them, but I grabbed his arm.

"Those aren't soldiers. They are just thugs in a uniform." The man said to Zuko. "No, they are just bullies." Zuko whispered. He grabbed my arm and helped me back up on the ostrich horse. As we were beginning to leave the little boy that actually threw the egg raced towards us grabbing the reins of the ostrich horse and smiled at us, "Thanks mister. I can feed your ostrich horse and give you some food also." He was grinning up at us and I couldn't help, but feel my heart melt. He really did mean well. He was just a child in the middle of a war just like Zuko and I.

"We need to keep going." Zuko said. "No, I mean it!"

"Come on. I'm tired of travelling." I whispered pinching him lightly in the side. He jumped down from the ostrich horse and told the kid to lead the way. I smiled and scooted forward. We walked a little ways till I started hearing pigs. "What a welcome." I said smiling at the boy.

"At least no one can sneak up on us." He stopped and ran over to his parents. Zuko helped me down and we stood there awkwardly till his father spoke. I zoned out and glanced around their land. They were good hard working people, who seemed to be having it hard time during this war like many of the people.

Zuko and I followed the father up to the roof with Lee right behind us. "Is she your wife?" Zuko was fixing the roof and slammed the hammer down on his thumb, I couldn't help, but laugh. He shot me a glare and went back to working. "How did you get that scar?" Lee asked again.

"Stop asking the man so many questions!" His father snapped.

000

We ate with the family for dinner and then they allowed us to sleep in their barn, so we could get some sleep before we set off for tomorrow. They were such a kind and loving family. I was glad that Zuko agreed to this. I was tired of riding on the back of that ostrich horse. I was curled up beside Zuko when I heard the door of the barn creep open. I suddenly felt very cold and opened my eyes to see that Zuko was gone. I sat up and rubbed my eyes. I got up and left the barn. I saw Zuko in the distance standing in the middle of a field. I walked closer and smiled. Zuko was teaching Lee how to use his swords properly. Lee must have snuck into the barn and took Zuko's swords to play with.

Zuko took his swords back and muttered something to him. Lee smiled and nodded. Zuko made his way over to me and I couldn't help, but smile. "So, you do have a heart?" He rolled his eyes and walked past me grabbing my hand.

We went back to sleep and before I knew it Zuko was shaking me awake. "We need to go." I nodded and slowly got up grabbing one of our bags throwing it over my shoulder. Zuko got the ostrich horse and Lee came out of his house with his family right behind him. Lee's mother was carrying a bag with a smile on her face. Zuko helped me up on the ostrich horse. "We packed you some food." Lee's mother smiled at me and handed me the little bag.

"Thank you so much." She nodded and stepped back. Zuko knelt down in front of Lee and handed him his knife that Iroh had gave him. They muttered to one another and Lee smiled at Zuko. Zuko jumped up on the ostrich horse.

"That was sweet of you. That little boy has grown on you." I said pitching him lightly. He blushed and shook his head. I rolled my eyes and wrapped my arms around his waist resting my head against his back. I couldn't help, but feel like Zuko was thinking a lot about something. I didn't know what, but he just seemed really depressed.

"_Azula, leave her alone." A seven year old Zuko yelled jumping in front of me. I was crying horribly on the ground trying to block out the pain of the burns on my leg. Azula pushed him away and stood in front of me smirking down at me. "I'll get mom!" Zuko yelled crossing his arms over his chest. Her smirked dropped off her face and she whipped around to face him. "ZuZu, I'm just trying to teach her firebending." I noticed how weak she just turned just at the mention of her mother. Her mother was always with Zuko, while she stayed mostly with her father. I picked myself up and shot a small ball of fire past her head. Zuko yelled and ducked. Azula whipped around and did not look impressed. "I am a princess. How dare you!" That's when she released all her power on me. I waited for every move and was able to block every single blow. _

_Zuko was staring at me in awe. Even Fire Nation guards seemed to fall against Azula. I knocked her feet out from underneath her. I heard clapping and looked up to see Zuko's father. He was standing right behind Zuko with a pleased look on his face. "Very good, Harmony. I have never seen anyone take down my daughter. Now Azula, stand up and bow." Azula grumbled under her breath and stood up. She bowed low to me, "You got lucky." _

"_Now come along Azula and Zuko, grandfather wants to speak to us." Zuko's mother walked over in her best robes and took Zuko's hand. "Harmony, your mother is looking for you." I smiled at her and bowed. "Actually, I was thinking about taking Harmony to the Fire Lord. She must show off her amazing talent." I hesitated, but slowly followed them back into the palace. I have never been face to face with the Fire Lord. Only my mother has and she seemed ill at ease when she returned. Ursa sent guards to my mother telling her where I was. _

"_Do not speak until spoken to." Ozai hissed as we stepped into the Fire Lord's chamber. Ozai and the Fire Lord spoke for a while; I just kept my head down and sat next to Zuko. Azula stood up and perform, then Zuko did. He barely made a puff of smoke and quickly sat down. "Lady Harmony? Look up, child." I did just as the Fire Lord said. _

"_Your looks were not just a rumor I see. You look very much like your mother, but you have your father's unique eyes. A mix between gold and brown, such a unique color. Now, Ozai, why did you bring her here?" I was shaking. I didn't want to perform in front of the Fire Lord after Azula. _

"_She is a very good firebender. Harmony, stand up and show off your skills." I looked at Ozai and felt my heart sink. I stood up slowly and took a deep breath. I waited and then stuck. I did all the moves that Iroh taught me and added a few things to make it stand out. I stopped and knelt down bowing my head to the Fire Lord. "Amazing." The Fire Lord leaned forward and stared at me for a long time. I stayed still, Ozai and the Fire Lord talked a bit and then we were dismissed. _

_Azula grabbed mine and Zuko's hand pulling us behind a statue. "Azula, this isn't right!" Zuko hissed. "Shut up and watch." _

"_Why did you bring that child in here?" _

"_Did you see her strength? My wife tells me her mother is having trouble controlling her. She is a threat." I stepped back shocked. He didn't bring me here to praise me. He brought me here to show the Fire Lord, that I was a threat. "Her father has done a lot for our nation! I cannot have a child banished." Azula turned around and smiled at me. Zuko rested his hand on my arm. I was crying. I didn't want to leave my mother. I pushed Zuko's hand away from mine and ran. _

I opened my eyes and stared up at the blue sky. I should have known then, that I needed to get out of the Fire Nation. After that moment, I promised myself that I wasn't going to leave without a fight and that's when my anger got worse. "Azula always lies." I sat up and looked over at Zuko. I could tell he was deep in thought about something and it was about Azula. Anytime Azula upset me, Zuko would always say that.

I was about to open my mouth and ask him what was wrong when Lee's mother came rushing towards us. "Help!" I jumped up and ran towards her with Zuko right behind me. "Lee attacked some of the soldiers. He was swing around a dagger. I have no idea what has gotten into him."

"We'll help" She took off again back towards the village and we jumped onto the ostrich horse. "What did you say to the kid?!" I hissed. Zuko blushed and shook his head. "We'll talk about it later." I nodded; I was really going to hold him to that. I kicked my heels into the side of the ostrich horse and it took off towards the village.

000

"Stay on the ostrich horse!" Zuko snapped jumping off the ostrich horse and standing in front of the soldier. Lee was tied up to a pole, I wanted to jump down and go untie, but I knew Zuko would lose his mind. The soldier and Zuko began to fight. I wanted to jump off this ostrich horse and help, did Zuko not think about that this was an Earthbender soldier! Zuko flew backwards and landed hard on his back.

I jumped off the ostrich horse as fast as I could and raced over to him. I knelt down beside him and shook him lightly. "Get up! Zuko, you better not be dead." I hissed. I heard the soldier chuckled and the earth beneath me moved. I glanced up right in time when I saw a rock come flying towards me. Zuko sprung to life and cut the boulder in half. "I thought I told you to stay on the ostrich horse!" He hissed helping me up.

"I thought you died!" I growled as he pushed me back behind him. He began to battle against the soldier again. I wrapped my arms around myself. I was terrified for Zuko. He didn't seem to be focusing at all. His mind was in a different place. Before I knew it, Zuko was on the ground again. I saw the crowd was cheering for Zuko, but I was about to end this. I ran over to Zuko and shook him lightly.

"Hey beautiful, I think it is time for you to date someone worth your time." I growled and balled my fist up. "I hope you don't mean yourself." I hissed. He narrowed his eyes and growled. The crowd laughed and that didn't help matters. He picked up a large boulder and tossed it at me. I closed my eyes getting ready for the impact. Instead, I felt arms push me down and I quickly opened my eyes. Zuko was spinning fire and knocked over the soldier. Zuko helped me up and wrapped his arms around me holding me close to him. "Who are you?"

"My name is Zuko, son of Fire Lord Ozai and Queen Ursa!" I gripped his arm tighter. The crowd was extremely quiet and some of the people didn't even seem to be breathing. "Zuko, we need to get out of here." I whispered tugging on his arm. He walked away from me and over to Lee. Lee's mother was untying him and stood in front of her son protecting him.

Zuko went to hang Lee back his knife. "Here"

"I don't want it. I hate you!" Lee ran away and the look on Zuko's face broke my heart. The crowd cleared out and I walked slowly over to Zuko. "We need to go, Zuko." He stood up slowly and placed his knife in his belt. He walked over to me and wrapped his arms around my waist. "Are you okay?" He whispered helping me up on the ostrich horse.

"I'm fine. What about you?" I asked as I wrapped my arms around his waist. He didn't answer my question; he just slammed his heels into the side of the ostrich horse. I dropped the subject and rested my head on Zuko's back.

_I watched as Zuko raced down the hallway calling for his mother. "Prince Zuko, what's wrong?" I asked placing down the basket I was carrying. He looked at me with tears flowing down his face. "I can't find my mom. Have you seen her?" I shook my head and he took off running again. I watched him go and was about to chase after him. "Father had her sent off." I turned around to see Azula leaning against a pillar with a smirk on her face. _

"_Why would he do that?" I asked. "Father was going to kill Zuko; mother said she would leave to save him." I glared at Azula. Did she tell him that? That would explain why he looked so panic. My mother told me that Fire Lord Azulon had died and Ozai was becoming the new Fire Lord. _

"_I know you have a crush on my brother." Azula said walking towards me. I tried to keep the blush that was about to appear on my face at bay, but it was no use. "You're just a peasant. He would never like you." She pushed past me and disappeared around the corner. _

_The next day, we had a new Fire Lord. _

_Fire Lord Ozai. _

I opened my eyes and felt Zuko shaking. "Are you thinking about your mother?" I asked. He just nodded and pulled the ostrich horse to a stop. "Let's make camp." I nodded and slide off the back of the ostrich horse. We didn't speak, but for some reason we were both thinking about his mother. I tied up the ostrich horse and began to set up the fire. Zuko kept glancing my way but never opened his mouth.


	19. Chapter 19

I was packing up our things while Zuko went off to steal us some food for the road. He came back an hour later with a basket full of hot food and fruit. "Harmony, are we packed?" He seemed really excited about something. I nodded and took the food from him packing it up. "I found tracks." I raised an eyebrow. What was he talking about?

"Remember before we left the Fire Nation… My father was looking over some blueprints of a tank, he had in the works. The tracks match up perfectly, so I'm thinking it's Azula." He smiled and helped me up on the ostrich horse. He kicked the ostrich horse into a run and pointed out the thick tracks that were on the ground. "Tell me why we are going towards Azula. She did try to kill us last time."

"She's chasing the Avatar." I looked ahead and saw a pillar of smoke in the air. We were close behind her. "So, chasing the Avatar is more important than staying alive." I hissed as he pulled the ostrich horse into a walk and turned around to face me. He took my hand gave me a weak smile.

"When that Earth kingdom soldier tried to kill you… I was so filled with anger. That's why I blew our cover. That's the only way I knew how to protect you." I smiled and he kissed my hand. He turned back around and kicked his heels back into the ostrich horse. I wondered if Zuko realized that his sister knew how to do lighting. I knew how to do lighting and how to redirect lighting. Iroh had taught while we were on the ship because he knew Azula would be training how to do lighting soon.

"_Harmony?" Two days ago was my fourteenth birthday and I was reading a book that Iroh had brought me about firebending. I looked up from my book, "Oh hi Iroh." _

"_You have made a large dent in that book." I smiled and closed it. "I just got to the chapter about lighting. Is there any way you can teach me?" He smiled; he sat down on my bed and patted me on my knee. "That's what I wanted to talk to you about. I know Azula is being trained for it and I think you should be too." I jumped up and threw on my shoes. I grabbed Iroh's hand and yanked him out onto the deck of the ship with me. _

_He chuckled and began to explain to me what I needed to do. It was that moment on that I knew I had a gift. I was great at firebending. Iroh and my mother said I was a natural. I thought firebending was just a way to protect myself from being hurt, but it was so much more than that. I felt at one with myself when I firebend. It was who I am. _

000

"Are you ready?" Zuko asked nudging me. I smirked and nodded. I was ready to be alongside Azula. I never got to finish what I started back on her ship and now I was ready. We were heading straight towards an abandon village and I ready saw blue fire shooting up in the sky. "Zuko, promise me something?"

"What?"

"When I say run, you run. I say get the hell out of there. Do it. I know what she is capable of. Don't you remember all the horrible things she did to me?" Zuko stayed silent and all I got out of him was a small little nod. The ostrich horse broke through an alleyway and I saw the Avatar at the end of it. I jumped off the ostrich horse and shot a fireball right at Azula's head. Zuko stood between me and the Avatar, his fist pointed right at the Avatar waiting to fire. "Little Harmony and ZuZu." I heard Aang snicker.

"I'm here to finish what I started when you tried to take Zuko and me as prisoners." She smirked and flipped her bangs out her face chuckling. "That Avatar is ours." Zuko hissed. She let out a loud laugh, "I don't think so."

"Think again." I sent her a fire kick and she shot one back at me. She took off running shooting fire at Aang and Zuko. I chased after her throwing every little thing I could at her. Not only was she attacking back, but so was Aang. A gush of wind picked me up throwing me backwards into a pillar. I grunted and ducked just in time as ice flew past my head. Katara and her brother Sokka were now in on the fight. I growled and shot fire at her that knocked her off her feet as she tried to block it. I noticed Zuko and Aang running into a building. I took off after them. Azula turned around and threw lighting at me. I dodged it and shot a fire ball at her. She dodged and disappeared behind a wall. I ran into the building and stop when I noticed there was no floor. Zuko was lying on the ground below while Aang was floating in the air by sitting on an air ball.

"Heads up." Aang yelled. I turned around to have my face meet with Azula's boot. I lost my balance and tumbled towards the ground. I waited for the impact, but it never came. I opened my eyes to be staring into the eyes of Zuko's. "Thanks." He smiled and placed me on my feet. Azula hit the ground and grunted. I looked up at her and smirked. I blasted my biggest fireball at her and she flew out of the building.

"Nice shot." Zuko muttered as we raced out of the building. I was about to hit her again when the ground under my feet began to shake. Azula was hit hard by a boulder. I looked up to see a girl about the age of twelve. She had messy black hair that covered most of her face and I was shocked to see Iroh standing right beside her. Azula went flying in the air and all of us cornered her in a little corner.

"Give up. You're outnumbered." Katara yelled. "Look at this. Enemies fighting together to defect little ole me. Don't worry, I know when I am outmatched." She held her hands up and smirked. She looked over at me, "Oh little Harmony. I have some rather horrible news for you." I felt all eyes on me and I felt rage building up at me. She just had to always bring attention to me and I just knew whatever she was about to say was going to make me unleash all my anger on her.

"Dad got tired of your mom… She disappeared, many think she is dead. I hope she is." I screamed and felt the energy go through me. I let out a lightning bolt that almost hit her. She dodged it and sent one right back at me. Iroh quickly pushed me out of the way and got hit by the lighting. When I looked up Azula was gone and Iroh was falling to the ground.

Everything was happening in slow motion. Zuko took off towards Iroh and Sokka ran towards me to make sure I was okay. "Are you okay?" He asked gently helping me up from the ground. I pushed Sokka out of my way and stumbled my way over to Zuko, who was leaning over Iroh's body crying.

I placed my fingers to Iroh's neck and felt his steady pulse pounding away. I sighed, he was still alive. "Zuko, I can help." Katara said reaching for her water pouch. She must have healing powers, Iroh was telling me about it. I went to get up to grab her arm, but Zuko grabbed my arm. "Leave us alone."

"Zuko, she can…"

"Leave!" He yelled shooting fire at them. They took off running and Zuko turned his attention back to his Uncle. "Harmony, help me carry him." I nodded and rushed to Iroh's other side.

000

I finished bandaging Iroh's shoulder up and sat back. He looked pale and that was starting to really scare me. We were in one of the house, one that we actually didn't destroy in our battle. I leaned up against the wall and stared at him. I looked over at Zuko, who was trying so hard on make Iroh's tea perfect. "Do you need help?" I asked. We haven't spoken a word to each other since we carried Iroh into this building.

"No" He snapped. I sighed, he was angry at me. I could understand that, I never told him I mastered lighting and I lost control causing Iroh to get hurt. Azula had to be lying, right? My mother couldn't be dead, could she? Maybe she was just banished like I was. "Why didn't you tell me?" Zuko asked.

"I felt special. Someone actually took the time to show me something difficult. I didn't want to share what I learned with you. Don't ask me why because I don't know, but when Iroh taught me how to use lighting… I felt like someone actually cared about me." He paused and turned around to look at me. I pulled my knees up to my chest and sighed. I was waiting for him to unleash his fury.

"I should've never ignored you for a year and a half. I was the only one that was your age and I should've been there to help you." I smiled and told him it was okay. We were both fourteen and were angry at the world. We had stopped talking because whenever we did, it turned out into a full out war between us.

I loved Zuko. He says he loves me too and sometimes he shows it and other time he doesn't. He had so much anger and shame in him, which made me wonder if he was ever going to get any better.


	20. Chapter 20

I heard a groan beside me and shot up crawling as fast as I could towards Iroh. I helped him sit up and Zuko rushed towards us with a cup of hot tea. "Here, I made it myself." Iroh smiled at Zuko and took the cup from him. He took a sip and a look of disgust appeared on his face. Zuko turned around and I quickly took the cup from him pouring it out the window. "Sorry, he wouldn't let me help." He shrugged and took the cup back from me. Iroh went on acting like he was drinking his tea when Zuko finally spoke up.

"I have been thinking. Harmony knows lighting, but I am going to have to be the person to take down Azula. Now I know what you are saying, she is my sister and I need to get along with her." Iroh paused and chuckled, "No, she is insane and needs to go down."

I laughed and saw a rare smile appear on Zuko's face. Iroh began to get up and I helped him up. "Zuko, I think it is time to start your training back up." Zuko jumped up and smiled. This was not going to end up well. Lighting cannot be feed off by anger. And that was one of the main things that drove Zuko in his firebending. We packed up our things and walked out of the village. When we were traveling into the village, I noticed a little house and I knew that would be the perfect place for Zuko to train.

We reached it in less than ten minutes. I dragged all our stuff in and rushed back outside to Iroh. "Harmony, how about you show off, I was impressed when you attacked Azula." I smirked and Zuko stepped back. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. I let go of everything that I had clouding my mind. All the drama between me and Zuko was nothing but a cloud of smoke. All that Azula said about my mom was gone. I was blank, nothing was in my head.

I took a deep breath and did the movement that Iroh had taught me. Lighting shot out of my finger tips and I stumbled back catching my breath. "Well done, Harmony!" I smiled and turned around bowing to Iroh. "The key to this is that it isn't controlled by anger."

"But Harmony shot lighting at Azula by using anger." Zuko said.

"Yes, I'm not entirely sure how she managed that. Now we need to practice the movements." Zuko stepped up to Iroh and he began to explain to him the movements. I sat down on the steps of the house and watched as Iroh taught Zuko. It was bringing back so many great memories for me. I remember when Iroh used to teach all of us as we were kids.

000

Zuko had been trying to create lighting for the last hour and all that would happen was that it would blow up in his face. "Ugh! Why isn't it working? Every time I try it blows up in my face."

"I was afraid of that." I got up and walked over to Iroh. "Zuko, you can't have anything on your mind while you try this. You have to be completely blank." I explained. I knew he wasn't going to be able to do this, I should have warned Iroh.

"Shame. You are feeling shame aren't you?" Iroh asked. "No, I'm as proud as ever." Iroh looked over at me and grabbed my hand pulling me towards Zuko. "You have hurt Harmony many times. That is the shame you are feeling." Zuko looked at me with his eyebrow furred in confusion.

"Both of us have moved past that." Zuko hissed. I sighed, maybe he has, but he still treats me the same way sometimes like I'm a little peasant. "Why don't you teach him how to redirect it?" I said walking over and sitting back down on my step.

"Does Azula know how to do that?" Zuko asked. Iroh grinned and shook his head. "I created it."

"What about Harmony?"

"Yep." Zuko growled and slammed his hand on his forehead. I rolled my eyes and stood up walking into the house to begin unpacking. I knew how long it was going to take to teach Zuko. It took me four and half hours to get it down.

000

"Are you crazy?" I dropped my bag and took off outside to see Iroh and Zuko fighting, back and forth with each other. I jumped down from the stairs and rushed over to them standing between them. "You taught me how to redirect it. Throw some lighting at me and let me redirect it!" Zuko yelled.

"Are you insane? If you haven't realized yet that lighting is kind of deadly. Iroh never threw lighting at me!" I snapped grabbing him by the shoulders. He pushed me away from him and walked over to the ostrich horse. "If neither one of you will give me lighting. I'll find my own." He jumped on the ostrich horse and took off before I could even open my mouth.

Zuko had been gone an hour now and I could tell a storm was starting to roll in. I noticed a mountain in the distance and knew that's where Zuko went. "I'm going to go get him." I hissed jumping off the step and began running. I heard Iroh call for me, but I ignored him. That storm was getting close and if he did try to redirect lighting, he would probably fail. I needed to be there for him. I couldn't bare to have anything happen to him. I saw the ostrich horse grazing about ten feet away from me and ran as fast as I could.

I reached the bottom of the mountain, but as it began to rain horribly. I climbed as fast as I could and the closer I got, I heard Zuko screaming at the top of his lungs at the cloud above. "Come on!" I froze and watched as Zuko screamed.

"You have never held back before!" He screamed and dropped to his knees. He was right, he wasn't shameful. He was angry. Extremely angry. "Zuko?" He looked over his shoulder and sighed. I walked over to him and knelt down beside him. I placed my hand on his shoulder and he jerked away. I sighed, "I know why lighting keeps blowing up in your face." I whispered. He looked up and that's when I noticed he had tears pouring down his face.

"You're too angry." He whimpered and rested his head on my shoulder crying even harder. "How do you deal with it?" He whispered as I weakly rubbed his back. I knew what he was talking about. Our banishment, I knew it still bothered him about what his father did. When I didn't answer it, he continued talking. "What kind of man is he?"

"A coward." I whispered. I took a deep breath, "He's a coward because he did that to his son. He had to prove to his people that he wouldn't let his son out speak him. He knew you were right; he just didn't want to admit it. He wants to be the most powerful and he has passed down that trait to Azula."

"You didn't answer my first question." He mumbled. He looked up at me and gave him a weak smile helping him off the wet ground. "Remember? I'm good at blocking out pain." I whispered. I went to walk away and Zuko grabbed my wrist pulling me to a stop.

"I love you." He whispered pulling me back towards him. He placed his hands on my face and stared into my eyes. "I know, Zuko." I whispered for some reason I didn't want to say 'I love you' back. If he didn't know by now that I was completely madly in love with him, than he didn't deserve to hear me say it.

"Every time I close my eyes at night, your smile and your gorgeous eyes appear in my mind. They keep me calm." He whispered bring my face in closer to his. I backed away from him a little and shook my head. He frowned and dropped his hands off my face.

"Zuko, you can't just keep running to me when you are feeling shitty. I won't be there to keep picking up the pieces. I would love to have someone help me pick my pieces up after they are shattered, I would love for that person to be you." I whimpered, I felt the tears prickled my eye lids. I was going to cry in front of him.

"I'm not just your peace of mind, Zuko." With that being said, I turned on my heels and began my climb down. I let my tears and the rain mix together. Maybe one day, he will see me as something more than just a comfort.


	21. Chapter 21

"Wow, a town in the middle of a desert. Please, explain why we are here." I whispered. Zuko and I had not spoken a single word to each other. I would catch him staring at me, but once he realized I caught him, he would just give me the ugliest glare ever. No one answered me as we walking into a small little shack that was filled with men drinking and laughing. I leaned up against the counter of the bar, while Zuko and Iroh talking softly to each other. A man from across the room was staring at me and then mumbled something to the small man beside him.

He wasn't just looking at me, but Zuko and Iroh as well. I felt Zuko grab my arm and drag me with him. Iroh sat down with another game and began playing his most favorite game. "Do we really have time for him to play his little game?" I muttered to Zuko. He sighed, and nodded to agree with me. That's when I realized Iroh and the man weren't just playing, but they were rearranging the pieces into a certain pattern.

"What an honor to have a member of the White Lotus here." The man said bowing his head. "Thank you, we are in need to get to Bah Sing Se." I smiled, now I was happy that Iroh played that stupid game. I saw the two men that were staring at us earlier were now making their way towards us. "You three are coming with us!" The bigger man held up a wanted poster of all three of us. I gulped, and felt Zuko wrap his arm around my waist.

"These three are wanted criminals with a large bounty on their heads!" The man that was with Iroh yelled. "I thought you said he could help us" Zuko hissed. I looked around at everyone's eyes on us. "He is." I whispered as the other men started to slowly stand up. They wanted the money that the Fire Nation had on us just as must as these guys.

A fight broke out and Zuko pulled me with him as we followed the man that was leading us to a secret little room. The man and Iroh spoke softly to each other. He lead us into a room, well at least I thought he was leading us into the room. The door was slammed in my face along with Zuko's. I stumbled backwards and growled. Iroh poked his head out, "Sorry, only members."

000

I have no idea how long we have been sitting outside this door, but Zuko would not so much as glance at me. It was like he was pouting like a little child after they are told they can't have a sweet. "So, you are going to keep ignoring me because I spoke the truth?" I hissed crossing my arm across my chest and plopping down beside him.

"I wasn't speaking because I didn't think you wanted me to talk to you." He snapped. He glanced over at me and then quickly went back to staring at the wall in front of him. "You are beyond frustrating. Do you realize that?" Zuko chuckled and nodded knowing fully aware that he knew how to make my blood boil. I sighed and dropped the matter. Right now, we needed to figure out how we were going to get out of here without being spotted.

Suddenly, the door opened and Iroh walked out with a smile on his face. "We are going to Ba Sing Se." I grinned, I remember Iroh telling me the tales of Ba Sing Se when he was there. I have always wanted to go and now we were. "Now, how exactly are we going to get out of here? Everyone now knows who we are." Zuko hissed crossing his arms over his chest in a huff. I rolled my eyes and sighed, Zuko was right. We would be attacked the second we stepped out of this room. A boy walked forward dragging a cart with two huge flower pots behind him. "That is our way out?" I asked.

There was only two flower pots, what was I going to do? "Yes, seeing as that you are so small, we thought you could fit into one with Zuko." Oh, that's lovely. I was going to be smack into Zuko for no telling how long. Iroh climbed into the first pot and I glanced on nervously.

"Go on." Zuko pushed me forward a little and I stepped into the pot. Zuko followed behind and dropped in. I pressed my body as tightly to the side as I could possibly could. I wanted to give him some space. The lid cover the pot and we were not in complete darkness. Zuko snaked his arm around my waist and pulled me closer to him.

"You look uncomfortable." He whispered. I felt us moving and settled down in Zuko's arms. This was going to be a long ride.

000

"I can't believe we are on our way to Ba Sing Se." I said grinning looking over the edge of the boat. Zuko was leaning against the rail with a bowl of some sort of soup thingy in it. It looked disgusting to be honest with you. "As tourist!" Iroh said grinning placing a straw hat on his head. "More like prisoners. That is how they are feeding us." Zuko said looking down at the bowl in his hands in pure disgust.

"It's a pity how they are feeding us and the captain is eating like a king." I turned around to see a boy about Zuko and I's age with a piece of straw hanging out of his mouth. "What kind of king?" Iroh asked.

"The fat and happy kind. Listen, you and your girl can come help us steal some food." I glanced over at Zuko, waiting for him to say I wasn't his girl, but it never came. "We're in."

He smirked and glanced over at me. "I'm Jet." He held his hand out to me and I smiled. "I'm Lily and this is Lee." Jet took my hand and kissed the top of my hand. "Sorry man, she's just too beautiful." Jet said nudging Zuko. I rolled my eyes and spoke up, "We aren't together, so it doesn't matter anyways. Where should we meet you later?"

Jet's face broke out in a grin and Zuko growled glaring at me. Jet was an attractive guy, I wasn't about to have him believe Zuko and I were together when we were, and beside I was still pissed off at Zuko anyways. Jet told us to meet him near the kitchen right at nightfall and that he was bringing some help.

000

"Lily, why don't you look out?" Jet whispered. "Not likely. I want to be in the action." I hissed back as one of Jet's friend shot an arrow across, so that we would climb across. "I don't want you getting hurt." Jet said smiling. Zuko chuckled, "Trust me, she can take care of herself."

Zuko took off and I followed him with Jet right behind me. We jumped behind a wall as a guard walked past. Jet had his arm draped over my shoulders and was breathing down my neck. This kid was starting to get really annoying. Sure, he was attractive, but he really didn't need to be this touchy with someone he just met. Zuko smacked his arm off of me and grabbed my hand dragging me into the kitchen.

I began grabbing chicken and throwing them into bags while the other two picked other foods. "Jet!" I froze knowing fully well that Smellerbee spotted a guard. Zuko grabbed my hand and we took off out of the kitchen.

Jet took my bag from me and Zuko. He walked over to the people of the ship and began handing out the food. I was about to walk over to Iroh when Zuko grabbed my hand pulling me back towards him. "Stay by me. I don't like how he is all over you." Zuko hissed pulling me closer as Smellerbee walked closer to us to listen. "Don't tell me you're jealous." I whispered smirking up at him. He rolled his eyes and growled.

"No, I just don't trust them is all." He let go of me and walked over to Iroh. I sat down next to Zuko and Jet plopped down beside me. Zuko introduced Jet, Smellerbee, and Longshot to Iroh. "Smellerbee? What an usual name for a young man." Iroh said smiling. I winced because I knew that Smellerbee was actually a girl.

"That's because I am a girl!" She snapped jumping up and storming off. "And a lovely name at that!" Iroh yelled after her. Longshot jumped up and ran after her. I have never heard that kid say one word at all. "So, why are you going to Ba Sing Se?" I asked Jet. Jet smiled over at me and shook his head, "I decided I needed to move on with my life. The fire nation has taken a lot from me and I was angry for a long time. I needed a new start."

"That is very wise of you." Iroh said blowing on his tea. I glanced over at Jet and watched him carefully. There was just something about him that seemed off. Maybe Zuko was right, I should probably stay close to him. I scooted a little bit closer to Zuko. Zuko looked up quickly and over at Jet to see if he did anything to me. He relaxed once he realized Jet had done nothing. Zuko wrapped his arm around my waist and leaned down.

"What's wrong, Harmony?"

"I think you're right about Jet. He keeps looking at me funny." I whispered back and picked my bowl up again. Jet glanced down at Zuko's arm and frowned. His face hardened and glared down at his food. He stood up quickly and left.

"Looks like someone has a little crush on Harmony." Iroh muttered. "He can back off. I don't trust him." Zuko hissed tearing into his food.


	22. Chapter 22

We were finally in Ba Sing Se and were waiting on the trains to take us into the city. I was curled up against Zuko side waiting. "You look like you're about to fall asleep." Zuko said chuckling. "I am" I muttered. I heard Iroh yell for some tea and jumped up. He sat back down and spat it out like it was poison. I sat up and looked at him. "It's cold!" He whimpered. I rolled my eyes and noticed out of the corner of my eye Jet walked towards us.

"Can I talk to you two for a second?" Zuko nodded and nudged me. I followed them over a little way away from Iroh and stood close to Zuko. "Me and my friends would like for you to join our group. You two were great last night." Jet said chewing on the straw that was in his mouth. Zuko glanced down at me and then shook his head. I didn't want to be a part of Jet's team. Zuko and I needed to stay low, and I knew if we joined Jet… It wouldn't allow us to keep low.

"I don't think you want us to be in your club." Zuko said. Jet frowned and looked over at me. He studied me for a little bit before he sighed and nodded, "Suit yourself." I gave him a weak smile and turned around to walk away. I froze when I saw Iroh. His once cold tea now had steam coming out of it. I glanced over at Zuko, who just calmly walked over to Iroh. He glanced over his shoulder and when Jet left, he smacked the cup of tea out of Iroh's hands. "What are you doing firebending your tea?" I hissed smacking him lightly in the shoulder.

"For a wise old man, that was a stupid move." Zuko snapped plopping down on the bench. Iroh looked down sadly at his tea that was now laying on the ground. "I know you aren't supposed to cry over spilled tea, but it is so sad." He said whimpering and covering his face with his hands.

"You have got to be kidding me." I mumbled leaning my back against the wall behind me. The train pulled up and I sighed. I picked up my things and walked ahead of them to find the best seats for us. I plopped down heavily and Zuko sat down next to me. I rotated myself around, so I could stare out the window. Zuko laughed and leaned back. "You're such a kid."

"Hey, I have always wanted to come here. Iroh, is it really that beautiful like they say?" I asked. "Oh yes." The train jerk forward and we began moving. I sat on my knees and looked out the window. I rested my head on my folded arms and watched. I saw the giant wall of Ba Sing Se and smiled. Maybe it wasn't going to be so bad here.

000

"This place is lovely." I said spinning around as we walked down the street of Ba Sing Se. Zuko growled and grabbed my arm before I slammed into an elderly couple. "We are peasants. How is that lovely?" He hissed as rejusted the bag that was on his shoulder. "Why don't you think positive for once? Stop acting like a spoiled prince. We are here to start new, so you better get used to it." I said. I glanced around the busy street. Families were shopping for food and laughing. Couples were on little dates, but what caught my attention the most was a couple. The wife was holding a baby girl and by the looks of it, she could only be a couple of days old. Her husband had the biggest grin on his face and was making faces at his daughter to make her happy. They looked beyond thrilled to be here while others walking around look miserably. We should all be thankful that we were alive and that the fire nation would never be able to break down that wall.

I was snapped out of my daze when I slammed right into the back of Iroh. He was grinning from ear to ear with his hand clasped together. His face read nothing, but pure excitement. "What is it, Uncle?" Zuko asked nudging him.

"That tea shop is hiring! Come on!" Iroh grabbed mine and Zuko's arm yanking us towards the small little building. I smiled and glanced around the building. There was about six tables around with about four chairs at each. Other than that there wasn't really anything else. The owner of the tea shop rushed towards us. He acted like he hasn't seen people in ages and the way the place looked, I was guessing I was correct.

"How may I help you?"

"We would like a job." Iroh said grinning. The owner looked over us and smiled holding out his hand to Iroh. "It would be a pleasure for all of you to work here. I shall get your aprons." He walked away and Iroh smiled. I shook my head; I have never seen Iroh so excited before in my life. I looked over at Zuko, who looked like he wanted to drop dead. The man came back and gave us our aprons. Poor Iroh couldn't fit into his.

The man explained that he would give us a place to stay as long as we worked hard. We start tomorrow morning. He showed us to where we would be staying it wasn't much, but it was better than nothing. We were lucky that we got this job and this place. I was starting to worry on what we would do once we got here, but now it seems to be working out great. I was excited for a new beginning, but Zuko didn't look happy at all. I knew he still wanted to find that Avatar. He thought that was the thing that would bring back his honor. I knew no matter what Zuko did, Azula would always look better in his father's eyes. Zuko would never be able to go home and the sooner he realized it the better.

"How do you like it, Harmony?" Iroh asked. I smiled, "It's better than nothing." Zuko stormed off to his room and Iroh winced as the door slammed shut behind him. He sighed and shook his head. "Don't worry about him. He'll come around." I said patting Iroh on the back. Iroh smiled at me and I walked off to my room.


	23. Chapter 23

Today was the big day. It was our first day of working in the tea shop. I changed into my earth kingdom clothes and tied the apron around me. I pulled my hair out of my bun and only pulled half of it up in a bun. It was time for a change of hair style. I stepped out of my room and felt eyes on me. Iroh grinned, "I love the new hair. You look like a new young lady." I smiled and looked over at Zuko. Zuko gave me a weak smile and walked towards me. He placed a hand on my shoulder, "You look beautiful."

Zuko stepped away from me and followed Iroh to the tea shop. I sighed and jogged after them. I walked into the tea shop and was greeted by the owner with a giant grin on his face. I would never understand why or how this man decided on allowing us to work here. The first hour of the tea shop opening, not a single person walked in. Zuko and I were washing some cups when Iroh said he was going to step out for a little while. He reappeared with two earth kingdom soldier laughing at one of his jokes.

"Sit down and I will have some tea ready." The two men sat down at the closest table to us. I froze and then hurriedly rushed over to Iroh with two tea cups. Zuko just stood there with a pout on his face. Iroh poured the tea and told me to bring it out. I stared at him. He was the one that was able to bring them into the place; they were expecting him to return not me. I did as I was told.

"Here you go." I placed the tea cups down and gave them a giant smile. I noticed both of them were young. Probably in their early twenties. "Thank you, Miss…"

"Lily." I said smiling. He grinned back and took a drink of his tea. "Oh this is incredible! Best tea I have had in years!" I smiled and rushed to the back. I patted Iroh on the back and he walked out from behind the bar to talk to the young men. Zuko walked over to me and nudged me. "Didn't you make that batch?"

"Well yes. It's from years of watching Iroh." I smiled as one of the soldiers patted Iroh on the back. Iroh nodded his head over to me. "They think you're attractive." Zuko huffed. I rolled my eyes, "They are a lot older than me. They are just being nice."

"Don't be modest." He scoffed and walked to the back of the store. I rolled my eyes and walked over to the tea pot to cook some more tea. Three more people came in once the soldiers left and then after that we were jammed packed. Zuko did nothing but pout the whole day. Iroh went around talking everyone up while I did the entire tea making. I would make the tea and Zuko would bring it out to the costumers. I enjoyed making the tea and the owner seemed to be really happy.

I just really enjoyed making people smile.

000

I sighed and plopped down at the table. Today was a long day. I was so tired. All I really wanted to do was to go to sleep. "I will make some tea and get dinner ready. Why don't you go rest, Harmony?" I nodded and stood up. I began to walk by the window and I could've sworn I saw someone sitting on the roof across from our house. I heard Iroh asking Zuko something in the background, but ignored him. I took a step closer and narrowed my eyes. There was someone sitting on that roof. I glanced over to see Zuko helping with dinner and Iroh had just walked back into the room. He was saying something about going to a neighbor. I made sure both of them weren't paying attention before I sunk out.

I stayed as low as I could to the ground as possible. The closer I got to the other building, I knew it was Jet. I could see the straw that was hanging out of his mouth. I began climbing up the building and Jet didn't have a clue that I was behind him. "And what do you think you are doing?" Jet whipped around and pulled out his swords. I smirked as I saw how tense he was. He had no idea how I got up here without him seeing and I could see the fear written all over his face.

"Lily?" I nodded and he slowly lowered his swords. "You should really pay attention better. Now answer my question." He looked over his shoulder at my house and then back at me. "Just making sure you are alright. I don't trust Lee." I rolled my eyes. This kid was a horrible liar. I knew he must have saw Iroh heat his tea. "Stop spying on me, Jet. I know Lee better than you do. Get lost, Jet" I dropped down from the roof and walked back to my house. I jumped back through the window and Iroh stared at me. He raised an eyebrow and I shut the window. "I just had a little walk."

"And a climb." Iroh muttered as I walked past him. I chuckled and patted him on the back. I saw Zuko's door shut and sighed. Zuko didn't need to know that Jet was stalking us. Zuko would lose his mind. "You handled that well, Harmony." I sat down and began eating. I looked up at Iroh as he poured me some of his tea. "What do you mean?" He sat down and folding his in his lap. He smiled and I sighed.

"Jet and Zuko. You find Jet attractive, no?" I blushed and took a drink of my tea. Iroh took a deep breath, "After everything that Zuko has done and you still are loyal. Jet showed you all the attention that you want from Zuko and yet, you stood by Zuko and completely ignored Jet." I looked up and swore I saw a shadow out of the corner of my eye, but ignored it and turned my attention back to Iroh.

"I love Zuko. I always have and always will. He has to straighten up, right. I feel like he knows my heart better than another and who better to trust my heart with than Zuko. Once he sees he doesn't need to Avatar the better. He will always be the perfect prince in my eyes." I gave Iroh a weak smile and began eating my rice. Iroh reached across the table and patted my arm. He gave me a smile before pouring himself another cup of tea.


	24. Chapter 24

Today has been extremely rough. It was so packed. Ever since we opened this morning, we had all sorts of costumers coming in and out. Many were soldiers and others were just normal people. Now it was getting close to closing time and I was thankful. I brought a pot of tea over to two soldiers. "Thank you! This has to be the best tea ever." I gave him a smile and poured the other soldier his tea. I had just placed the tea kettle in the middle of the table when I heard the door bust open. I wiped my hands on my apron and Zuko was standing beside me. I finally looked to see who busted down our door and froze. It was Jet.

"Those three are firebenders!" The tea shop went completely silent. Zuko wrapped his arm around my shoulders and I felt his arm tensed up. "You are mistaken, son. We are just humble refugees." Iroh said stepping up. "They are firebenders! I know it and they brainwashed that poor girl." Jet yelled pointing over at me. I growled and took a step forward. "You are seriously mistaken! Lee has been in my life since I was a child." I screamed. I was about to lose my temper and that meant my firebending would go out of control. Zuko walked quickly over to me and pulled me towards him. "Calm down."

"Stand down, son" One of the soldiers said standing up. Zuko let go of me and snatched the soldier's swords. Jet pulled out his swords and smirked at me. "Don't look at her." Zuko hissed. "Jet, you don't know what you are doing. Stand down." I knew how talented Zuko was at swords and I didn't want Jet losing his life. He shook his head and charged Zuko. Zuko blocked his swords and dived over a table blocking him again. "Stop!" Zuko was going to kill Jet. They ran out of the shop and I chased after. I took a short cut down an alleyway. I jumped over a crate and stumbled upon the two. Zuko ducked and Jet screamed when he saw me. Zuko pulled me down to the ground and jumped up pushing me behind him.

Two men dressed in long black cloaks walked forward. "Arrest them! They're firebenders." Iroh jogged over with the two guards from the tea shop behind him. "This young attack my employees!" The owner ran forward and pointed a finger at Jet. "It's true, sir. This young boy attacked the finest tea maker and insulted this fine young lady." I saw Iroh blush and rolled my eyes. This was no time to be fluster because someone said you made tea well.

Two hands made out of stones wrapped around Jet's wrist. They grabbed him and drugged him away with them without saying another word. The crowd slowly disappeared and Iroh walked towards us. That's when I noticed how strong of a grip Zuko had on my waist. I was crushed up against his chest, but I wasn't about to complain. It was nice being this close to Zuko.

000

"That was way to close, Uncle!" Zuko snapped. He shoved food in his mouth and I sighed. Zuko was right. If we didn't have those guards on our side, we would have been arrested for sure. I stared out the window. I couldn't help, but wonder what they were going to do with Jet. Ever since we have gotten here I haven't heard a single person breathed the word 'war'. It was like they were in their own little world.

Did they really think they could stay out of this war forever? "Harmony?" Iroh whispered touching my hand lightly. I jerked my head away from the window and stared at the two of them. I would be lying if I said Jet didn't terrify me. He could have easily turned us in. I didn't know how he would get the proof, but I knew Jet would find a way. He was a smart kid. I only hung out with him for a couple of days and I could clearly see that. Another thing that I thought was odd, where was his gang?

"What are you thinking about?" Zuko asked. "Don't you find it odd that no one has mentioned anything about the war? It is like they don't even know." Zuko looked over at Iroh, who just sighed and nodded. "I was waiting for one of you to bring that up."

"I thought it was kind of weird that they just believed us just like that." Zuko mumbled and pushed his empty plate away from him. I took a bite of my food and nodded. "I supposed if he did it in a more calm matter, they would have believed him." Zuko said taking his cup of tea that Iroh had just poured him. I drummed my fingers on the table deep in thought. What had caused Jet to become so unhinged? He seemed like a mad animal.

He hated us just seeing Iroh heat his tea. I knew everyone had a problem with firebenders, but it seemed like his rooted deeper than most people. He just didn't seem like your normal sixteen year old boy. Well, Zuko and I didn't scream normal.

"There is something bad going on. Why is very one keeping so quiet about the war? I mean I'm not complaining, but there is just something unsetting about it. You know, Azula will find a way past the walls." I said shoving another bite of food into my mouth. The more I thought about this, the sicker I felt. Zuko stayed silent along with Iroh. I finished eating my food and escaped off to my room. I locked the door behind me and walked over to my dresser. I closed my window and opened the top drawer. I pulled out some of my clothes and there stood a small black picture frame.

It was of me and my mother. This was taken a year after we had moved into the palace. Lately, I have been thinking a lot about what Azula said. Was my mother really dead? Or did she just get banished like I was? Was she going to come find me or had just given up on me?

She was always so angry with me once we moved. Nothing I did was ever good enough. I knew she just wanted me to be the perfect daughter; she looked at Azula and wondered why I wasn't like her. She didn't see how insane Azula was. Azula was always a great actress. She would act one way in front of adults, but when it was just me and her… It got bad. The only person Azula didn't put a front was her mother. I think she knew her mother could see right through her.

There was a light knock at my door. I shoved my clothes back on top of the picture and closed the drawer. "Yeah?" I called out, my voice cracking. "Harmony? Can I come in?" It was Zuko. Why was he knocking at my door? I walked quickly over to my door unlocking it and pulling it open. Zuko stood there with a weak smile on his face. He walked past me, stepping into my room. I closed my door and turned around.

"I tired of this tension." He said quickly. I crossed my arms over my chest and rolled my eyes. "I don't feel this tension. You are the only one clouding our relationship." I hissed. Zuko rolled his eyes and closed the gap between us. He grabbed my wrist and pulled my hands up to his face. He kissed my knuckles and pulled me in closer. "I'm learning. Give me time." I couldn't open my mouth. I just sighed and nodded. That was the only thing I could do at the time.


	25. Chapter 25

A week has gone by and Zuko was still trying to win me over. I was still giving him a hard time. I wasn't about to cave in like I always did. I was cleaning cups with Iroh beside me washing some trays. Zuko was walking around serving tea, when he came back with a look of panic on his face. "See that girl over there." He nodded his head over to the girl by the door. Her hair was up in a messy ponytail with her bangs sticking crazy on her forehead. "Don't look!" Iroh and I snapped our attention away from her, and back at Zuko.

"I think she thinks we are firebenders. She has been here all day." Zuko whispered leaning towards us. I rolled my eyes. Zuko could be really stupid sometimes. "I believe someone has a crush on you. She has been here at lately." Iroh said chuckling. I rolled my eyes and began to angrily washing the cup that was in my hands. Iroh glanced over at me and chuckled again. I was never good at hiding my jealously. The girl walked up to us and handed Zuko her money for her tea. Zuko turned quickly back around and I glared at the girl.

She giggled a little and tapped Zuko on the arm. He turned back around and she gave him a little wave. "Hi, I'm Jin. I see that you are new here." Zuko nodded and looked over at me. I was angrily cleaning the cup that was in my hands. "I'm Lee and this is Lily." Zuko said nodding his head over to me. Jin looked wearily over at me and then back at me. "Well I was wondering if we could go on a date. My older brother is a soldier, I'm sure he will love to go with Lily." I saw Zuko's jaw tensed up and I looked at Iroh.

Zuko was just getting jealous of just thinking of me being on a date. Zuko went to open his mouth and I pushed him to the side. Zuko needed to see me with someone else. He needed to know what it felt like. "We would love too." Jin grinned and clasped her hands together. She told us when to meet her and she skipped out of the tea shop. Zuko glared at me and grinned up at him.

"What?" I asked innocently. "Why did you agree to that?!" Zuko hissed leaning towards me. I saw Iroh with his hand over his mouth trying to cover the fact that he was laughing incredibly hard. Iroh knew exactly what I was doing. "Because it sounds like fun and besides soldiers are normally attractive. Now take this to table 6." Zuko snatched the tray out of my hands and stormed away. Iroh chuckled, "You are going to kill that boy one day."

000

I dressed in my best clothes and let my hair down. I stepped out of my room and caught sight of Zuko. I bit down on my lip to keep from laughing. Iroh had slicked Zuko's hair back. Zuko was pouting with his arms crossed, he looked like a five year old, and who didn't get his way. He looked over at me and his pout dropped off his face being replaced with a smirk. Iroh peeked around Zuko and smirked at me, "Harmony, you look beautiful."

"Thank you, Iroh. Zuko, we need to get going." I said glancing over at the clock. He nodded and followed me out. I pulled open the door and stepped out. Jin was standing there with a man. He was tall and built. He had shaggy black hair and his eyes looked almost red. He was handsome. "Hi! This is my brother, Tin. This is Lee and Lily." Tin walked over to me and grabbed my hand kissing my knuckles of my hand. I giggled a little and gave him my best smile. I felt Zuko's heavy glare on me, but ignored him and walked away with Tin. We walked a little bit and stopped to eat at a restaurant. I sat next to Zuko and Tin sat across from me. Tin kept telling me how beautiful I was and trying to get me to converse in conversation with him, but I just couldn't make myself like him. I glanced over at Zuko, who looked beyond miserable. I sighed and leaned close to him. "Try to have some fun, Zuko." I muttered under my breath.

"This is pointless." I was starting to see how bad Zuko was with other girls… and lying. He was an awful liar. "So, is he your brother or something?" Tin asked eating his rice. I gave him a smile and looked over at Zuko, who was trying to juggle and failing horribly. I chuckled, "He's a childhood friend. My family is dead, so he and his uncle is all I got. I love them." Tin smiled sadly and reached across the table grabbing my hand. I glanced up, I wish he was Zuko. I was Zuko and I were on a date, not the other way around. I looked at Zuko and he was staring at our hands. I could've sworn I saw tears welding up in his eyes. I backed my hands away from Tin and finished eating.

After all of our food was eaten, we all got up and Jin said something about wanting to show us something. We walked a little bit and stopped in front of a fountain. "Oh no! It's not lit up" Jin whimpered. Zuko looked down at her and told her to close her eyes. He also told Tin to do the same. I rushed over to Zuko and we both began to light up all the lights. I spun around and sent a fire kick at the last light. I grinned and stood up to see Zuko walking over to Jin. He leaned down and told her to open his eyes. Tin opened his eyes and began grinning. He walked over to me and wrapped his arm around my waist. I tensed up and glanced over at Zuko.

My heart froze and my world around me began to crumble. Zuko and Jin were kissing. Tin was talking, but all I saw was the two of them kissing. Tin began leaning down and I backed away. "Sorry being too forward, aren't I?" He said smiling. I nodded and backed away from him. "I had a great time, but I need to be going." He nodded sadly and I turned around to see Zuko staring at me. I closed my eyes tight and took off running.

000

I slammed open the door and slammed it behind me. I wiped my eyes quickly and saw Iroh stand up quickly. "Harmony? Oh dear, what happened?!" He rushed towards me and tried hugging me. I back away from him and tried to get myself under control. "He kissed her."

Iroh gaped at me and then the door opened again. Zuko rushed over to me out of breath and grabbed my hand. "What did he do to you? Harmony, why are you crying?" I looked up at him and shook my head. There was no way he was this stupid. Were all guys this thick? I bit down on my lip and walked out of the room quickly. "Uncle, do you know what happened?" Zuko asked with panicked dripping off of every word he said. I paused and leaned against the wall to listen. He sounded actually worried.

"Did you kiss that girl?" Iroh asked firmly. "She kissed me! I didn't know what to do." I heard Zuko take a deep breath. "I didn't feel anything. The one time Harmony and I kissed was perfect. She wasn't Harmony and anytime that guy touched her… I felt like I was going to explode. Why do I keep messing up?! Uncle, all I want is Harmony! She's all I think about." I froze; I have never heard Zuko talk like that about me. I stepped out from around the corner and Zuko's eyes widen.

"Is all of that true?" I whispered. Iroh smirked and backed away leaving us alone. "Every word." Zuko whispered back. My heart was beating out of control. Before I could control my feet, I ran towards him jumping into his arms. Zuko chuckled and hugged me back hard. He lifted my chin up and crashed his lips into mine. My legs give out and Zuko lightly pushed me up against the wall to support me. Our lips molded together and his hands were running through my hair. It was the perfect kiss. The kiss that I knew Zuko could only deliver. He pulled back and rested his forehead against mine.

That date changed Zuko. He knew what it was like now to see me on date with another guy. That date also changed me. At that point on, I realized that I would never know what to do without Zuko. If this ended badly and he got with another girl… I would stay just so I would be able to see him each day. A smile on his face would make me happy no matter if it was me or another girl making him smile.


	26. Chapter 26

About a week has gone by since Draco and I date that we had with Jin and Tin. Zuko has been so sweet. He would randomly kiss me and he would always find some way to touch me. He was even started rubbing my back after a long day at the tea shop. I had my feet propped up and stared at the empty shop. We had been dead all dead, which was causing Iroh to go into a panic. No one really seemed to be out today, so I knew it wasn't Iroh's tea. Zuko was outside sweeping up the entrance way and Iroh had just retired to our house. I was just waiting on Zuko to come back inside.

The door slammed open and Zuko ran with a sheet of paper clutched to his side. I sat up and walked over to him. He held out his hand and I took the paper out of his clenched fist. I smoothed it out and read over it.

"So the Avatar lost his bison?" I said looking at the poorly drawn bison. I looked up to see a big smirk on Zuko's face. He knew as much as I did, that if we found the bison, we would get the kid. "Do you have any idea where the thing is?" I asked propping my feet back up on the table. He sat across from me and sighed. "Not a clue. I can figure it out. I just need to know you have my back, Harmony." He folded his hands neatly on the table and leaned forward.

"I thought you were going to drop this whole… capture Avatar." I said. Not even three days ago, Zuko had promised me he was giving up on the Avatar that he only wanted to be with me and keep me safe. I was starting to think every word that came out of his mouth was a lie. Did he even love me? "I was, but he's here. He's in the city. It has to be fate."

I looked him over and saw how excited he looked. He looked like he has never been happier. He had a grin plastered on his face and I knew I couldn't say no. I promised myself no matter what I did. I would always make Zuko happy.

"Fine!" He rushed around the table and pulled me up hugging me. He pulled back and locked eyes with me. My breath hitched in my throat and I felt the world around me spin. He leaned down and gave me a breathtaking kiss. He let go of me and I stumbled backwards in shock. His kisses were still catching me off guard. He grabbed my hand and pulled me out of the tea shop.

000

"Where did you get another Blue Spirit mask?" I hissed picking up the mask and looking over it. He had just dragged me into his room while Iroh was cooking dinner. He had his black outfit picked out and his mask lying on top of it. "Does it matter? Look after dinner, I'm going to go around and get some answers. I need you to cover for me till I get back." I sighed and crossed my arms. Iroh was going to be able to see right through me. No one could lie to Iroh, not even Zuko and he was the master at lying. He was always able to get out of anything.

"Please, Harmony!" He whined. I rolled my eyes, "You have one hour and that's it."

He grinned and grabbed my face with his hands giving me a quick kiss. Iroh called us out for dinner. I sat down next to Zuko and watched him tear into his food like a wild animal. "If I would have known you were so hunger, I would have cooked faster." Iroh said chuckling sipping his tea. I ate my food quickly and watched as Zuko grabbed his second plate. I poured myself some tea and Zuko stood up quickly chugging down his tea.

"All done. I'm going to go get some sleep." He leaned down and gave me a kiss on the head before he dashed off to his room. He gave me a wink and I gave him a tight nod, he knew I knew what he meant. He was leaving now. I went on eating and Iroh finished off his tea. He piled his plate up and glanced over at me.

"Is something wrong with Zuko? He never eats like that." I shook my head and swallowed my food. "No, I think he's just tired." Iroh nodded and didn't ask another question. I finished off my plate and poured myself another cup of tea. Iroh knew something was up. I could just tell, but I knew he wasn't going to question me any further about it. I had washed my plate and was about to walk off to my room when Iroh called out to me.

"Does Zuko know that the Avatar lost his bison?" He reached into his rob and pulled out the flyer that Zuko had showed me earlier. "I had walked to the market earlier and this was plastered on every other wall. I was hoping Zuko wouldn't see it." He tossed it into the fire and I watched it turn to ashes.

"I don't think he did." I muttered not taking my eyes off of the burning flyer. "He has come so far with you and I do not want him to hurt you again, Harmony." Iroh said placing a firm, gently hand on my shoulder. I finally looked away from the fire and up at Iroh's face.

"I know what you mean. Excuse me, I need some sleep." I whispered backing away from him and walked quickly to my room.

000

An hour was now up and I was pacing around my room. Iroh had just gotten asleep and I was hoping Zuko would be home soon. I told him, he had to be back in an hour. I just hoped he didn't get himself into trouble. My bedroom door slowly opened and I stopped pacing. I turned around to see Zuko walking into my room shirtless.

"Well?"

"I know where the bison is." He whispered staring down at the ground. I raised an eyebrow. Why wouldn't he meet my eyes? "Where is it?"

"Lake Laogai." He said sighed and sitting down on my bed. I plopped down beside him and rested my head on his shoulder. Now we knew where the bison was, now the question was how are we going to get it? "I can understand if you don't want to help me kidnap the bison." His voice cracked and now I understood why he seemed upset. He thought I wouldn't help him. He knew that this was hurting me. He knew I wanted us to grow past this and start a relationship. He and I both knew this was the last thing I wanted to do right now. I should be furious that he was even asking me to do this, but I wasn't. I was calm and I wasn't at all surprised.

"I will do it." Zuko looked up at me in shock. His shock slowly turned into happiness. Before I could change my mind, he sealed our deal with a kiss.


	27. Chapter 27

"So, we will go tonight." Zuko whispered to me as I began to set up the tables for the tea shop. I paused and looked up at him. "Do you even have a plan to where it is? Or anything?" I hissed chasing after him as I picked up my empty tray. Iroh was making some tea in the back and I had no idea how we were going to sneak past Iroh tonight. I didn't even have a mask or anything.

The door of the tea shop opened and I turned around. It was a couple holding a little baby. "Take a seat wherever." I called over my shoulder. I grabbed Zuko's arm and pulled him to a stop. "Zuko, we can just bust in there and not have a plan. We are going against the Earth Kingdom!" I hissed as I began getting the couple their tea. Zuko glared at me as he angrily clean a tea cup handing to me. "Have a little faith, Harmony?" He hissed picking up the tea kettle and pouring the tea into the cups.

"Zuko, remember our past. We never come up with plans we just go for it and it always blows up in our faces." I hissed picking up the tray and walking over to the table with a smile on my face. I handed them their tea and asked them if they needed anything else. I walked back to Zuko as he cleaned more tea cups.

"Harmony, I just want to know if you have my back. As long as I have you with me I can think straight." He reached across the counter and placed his hand over mine. I glanced down at our clasped hands and looked back up smiling. "You always know what to say, Zuko." I whispered hearing the door chime behind me.

"Take a seat! I'll be with you shortly. Thank you, Harmony." Zuko smiled and leaned across the counter kissing me on the forehead. I smiled weakly as he picked up a tray and began to place the tea on it. He brushed his arm against mine and walked over to the top with a fake smile plastered on his face. My heart sped up and I glanced down with a blush creeping across my face. Iroh stepped out from behind the back room with three new kettles of tea. He placed them on the counter and patted my shoulder.

"I still find it odd seeing Zuko is being so opened with you. Your relationship will blossom. It already has, Harmony." Iroh walked around the counter and greeted another group of people that walked into the tea shop. "Harmony, tea to table four please!" Iroh called out. I shook my head and began pouring tea in new tea cups. I needed to forget about tonight and just focus on the present.

000

"Do you have your daggers?" Zuko whispered, as he helped me down from the window. I held up my father's beautiful daggers and placed them back in my belt. Zuko pulled up his mask and I did the same with mine. He leaned down and gave me a gentle kiss on my lips. "We have to go." I nodded and took off running right behind him. It wasn't hard to find the lake; it only took us about forty minutes to get there. I took a deep breath and stared at the lake. It was peaceful, how were we going to find the bison?

"Look!" I glanced to where Zuko was pointing to. There was a stone pathway that was sticking up from the water. Zuko didn't hesitate, he ran as fast as his legs would carry him towards the walkway. I kept up with him easily and watched him toss the lid of the opening up. He opened in first and then called me in. I took a deep breath and jumped down. It was pitch black.

I snapped my fingers together and a flame flickered out of my finger tip. I held my hand up and I couldn't help but gasp. We were in an underground prison. There were cells everywhere and it looked like some of the rooms were some sort of tortured chambers. "What is this place?" I whispered following Zuko down a hallway.

"They take everyone here when they choose not to follow their leader." Zuko hissed picking up his speed glancing into different cells. I grabbed his arm and pulled him to a stop. He wasn't telling me something. I felt like he knew exactly where this bison was and I wanted answers now. "This is where they took Jet, isn't it?" I hissed as he yanked his arm away from mine.

"Yes, after I found an Earth Kingdom soldier, who told me about this place, I bumped into Jet. He didn't have a clue who I was. He just kept mumbling about this place and seeing a giant bison." He walked faster and I had to jog to keep up. I took a deep breath and tried to control my anger. I was here for one reason and one reason only, and that was to make sure Zuko didn't get himself killed. He stopped and held his ear to the door.

"Found it." He kicked the door down and pulled his sword out. I jogged into the room and saw the bison chained up. He looked so scared. My heart was breaking for the poor creature. Zuko ran forward and cut the chains easily off of the bison. The bison jerked back and I walked quickly over to the giant creature holding out my hand.

"It's okay, buddy. We are here to help." He licked me causing my mask to go falling to the ground. I giggled and rubbed the bison's head. "Do you remember what his name is, Zuko?" I whispered stroking the bison. Zuko sighed and pulled off his mask. "I think Appa."

"Hey Appa." The creature licked me again and I smiled. I was happy I was helping this beautiful creature, but I knew Zuko was only using him to get to the Avatar. "What are you two planning on doing with his bison?" I turned around to see Iroh standing in the doorway.

My heart stopped, how was it that he always knew what we were going to do before we figured it out? We were never able to keep anything from him. "ZUKO! Look at yourself. You must chose who you are and you must stop dragging down Harmony with you!" Zuko was breathing heavily and gripping onto his sword hard.

"I don't know anymore, uncle!" Finally after arguing for awhile, Zuko decided to listen to his uncle and me. I kept quiet for a long time, but finally spoke up saying how cruel I thought he was being to this poor bison. He finally calmed down and let Appa free.

"You did the right thing, Zuko" Iroh said closing the door behind me and locking it. I smiled and watched Zuko sway a little. "Zuko?" He was holding his head and saying how he didn't feel well, I made my way towards him and he fell to the ground. I screamed and ran towards him. I lifted up his head and noticed how bad he was sweating. "Iroh! What is wrong with him?" I whimpered holding him tight to his body. Iroh walked over with a blanket and pillow. He didn't say a word.


	28. Chapter 28

I wringed out the wet rag and began to dab Zuko's sweating face. He had been like this for days and Iroh wasn't telling me anything that was happening to Zuko. I was a nervous wreck. I would never leave his side. Iroh had told the Tea Shop owner that we were having a family issue. He gave us a week off and told us to tell him if we needed anything. Iroh had gone to take a nap and I was dabbing water on his face.

"Harmony… Please…" I froze and dropped the rag onto the ground. I brushed his hair back and sighed. He would mutter my name every other minute and I was really starting to wonder what was going on in his head. Iroh wouldn't tell me what was going on with Zuko and it was starting to make me sick. Zuko could be dying and I didn't even know it. Is that why Iroh wasn't telling me anything?

"He keeps calling out for you." I turned around to see Iroh standing in the doorway of Zuko's room. I nodded and continue to dab cold water on his forehead. "Answer me this: Is Zuko dying?" I hissed dropping the rag in the bowl of water. He shook his head and walked towards us. "He's merely going through a change."

"A change?" I asked picking up the rag again once I saw drops of sweat roll down his face. "Freeing the Avatar's bison caused him to change his destiny. His body is at war with itself." He patted my hand and stared down sadly at his nephew that seemed to be having a horrible nightmare. I began to dab the rag over his face and frown. None of this was helping him. If any, it was making things worse. Iroh watched me carefully, "Get some sleep, Harmony."

"No." I hissed folding up the rag and placing it on his face. Iroh sighed; he knew I wasn't going to leave Zuko. I hadn't eaten at all and barely drank any tea this morning. Zuko had a horrible fever and it needed to break or Zuko was going to die. I couldn't lose him now. We finally had a relationship, well somewhat. It still needed work, but he was trying. He was trying hard. It's the most he has ever done and that was a big step for him. For us.

"Harmony… Don't…Leave me…" I stared down as Zuko began to shake horrible. He tossed and turned muttering my name over and over again. I grabbed his hand and began whispering anything that would calm him. Finally after twenty minutes went by he finally relax and went back to sleep. I sighed and closed my eyes. I rested my body up against the wall and slowly fell asleep.

000

I felt someone nudge me and sat up. Zuko was awake. I grinned and threw my arms around his neck. "Uncle? Harmony?" He rubbed my back lightly and I finally let him go. "What happened?" Iroh began to explain to him everything that he told me. I gathered up the bowl of water and rags. I dumped out the water in the sink and began washing out the rags that I knew was covered in Zuko's sweat. I felt eyes on my back and turned around to see Zuko staring at me with a smile on his face.

"What is it?" I asked drying off my hands. He stood up and walked over to me. He wrapped his arms around my waist while I stared up at him completely shocked. What was he doing? How was he able to even stand? "Thank you for taking care of me." He whispered brushing his hand over my cheek. I blushed, "You're welcome." I glanced down at the ground so he would see that blush that was slowly taking over my face.

He lightly grabbed my chin and forced me to look up at him. He smiled, "Go get some sleep, honey." My heart stopped and I shook my head. I dropped the towel I was holding and walked quickly to my bedroom. I changed out of my clothes and plopped down on my bed. I curled up under my sheets waiting for sleep to overtake my body.

But it never did. I laid there for hours and sleep wouldn't take me into the darkness. I wouldn't move, I would stare up at the ceiling wondering how I had not fallen asleep yet. The door of my bedroom opened slowly, but I just couldn't bring myself to see who it was. "You're still awake?" Zuko asked sitting next to me.

"Apparently." I muttered not taking my eyes off the ceiling. I was in a trace and I couldn't break it. I was that tired. "Thank you again."

"Don't worry about it." I said, a little too harshly. I didn't know why, but I had begun to get angry. How dare he almost die on me? What would I have done without him? I knew it wasn't his fault, but I wondered if he would have freed the bison if Iroh hadn't showed up. That was the thing that was bugging me the most. Was he really changing or was he just acting? He was always the best actor.

"I want to talk to you about my dreams. Uncle said I had muttered your name a handful of times." That caught my attention. I sat up and scooted up over to him. He stared ahead at the wall and I saw his jaw tense just bring it up.

"It started out where I was the Fire Lord, there were two dragons, one had the voice of Azula and the other Uncle. Azula was trying to get me to fall asleep, but I knew I shouldn't trust her. That dream faded and I was standing in front of you. You were angry." He broke down and rested his head in his hands. He was shaking horribly. I reached out and wrapped my arm around his shoulder. "You don't have to talk about it." I muttered rubbing his back. He shook his head and controlled himself.

"I was older and you were too. I asked you to marry me. You said no because…" He took a deep breath. "That you didn't want to marry someone who wouldn't take care of you. You said I cared more about the Avatar than you. I was begging and pleading with you to stay, but you just kept running." He looked up at me with tears streaming down his face. I wrapped him up in a hug and let him cry it out.

I didn't speak. I should've told him I would never do that, but in the back of my mind I knew I would. I couldn't wait for him forever. I wouldn't be able to handle it. He held onto me tight and kept mumbling, "Don't ever leave me. Please."

I kept quiet. I knew I couldn't promise that.


	29. Chapter 29

I was cleaning the back because we were cleaning up soon when Iroh dashed to me grabbing my arm. There were two men standing there. Zuko was tapping his foot and the owner of the tea shop looked extremely nervous. He was biting down on his fingers, I saw the smile that was etched across Iroh's face and I knew it was going to be good news. "She's here now repeat what you just told us!" Iroh said clapping his hands together.

"Uh, well this man is probably the best tea marker in the whole city. We would like to allow them to open their own tea shop. They would completely own it and make the tea." Iroh glanced down at me and I looked up at Zuko, he was actually smiling. I gave Iroh a smile and a nod. Iroh began to pull off his apron and tossed it at the owner. "We will take it. You two go pack our belongings while I talk to these two lovely men." Zuko grabbed my hand and lead me out of the tea shop. The owner of the shop was begging and pleading for Iroh to stay, but Iroh just waved him off.

I chuckled and began placing things together while Zuko grabbed some bags. "Isn't this great?" I asked placing my clothes up. Zuko smiled and stared down at the clothes that were in his hands. "Yeah it is. Uncle has always wanted to own his own tea shop." He placed his clothes in his bags and picked up another stack of clothes to pack.

"Things are finally looking up, huh?" He placed the clothes down and walked over to me wrapping his arms around my waist. I smirked and wrapped my arms around him also. "It is. Aren't you excited?" I asked resting my head against his chest. I knew he wasn't faking, I haven't seen him smile this much since his mother was still with him. I didn't know if she was dead or not, I just knew she was gone. No one really knew what happened to Zuko's mother, not even her own son.

That sickness must have woken him up. He hasn't talked about the Avatar once. Zuko truly had changed. Not really the real him, but the way he thought things through. I think he finally understood he was never going to make his father proud. Azula would always outshine him in his father's eyes, Azula was heartless and that was the only reason why. Zuko was raised by his mother and I thank every star that she did.

She raised the most amazing guy I could ever ask for.

"Are we all pack? They are waiting to take us to my new tea shop." Iroh asked poking his head into the room. I backed away from Zuko and nodded. I zipped up my bag and watch as Zuko did that same. "We are starting a new life. Are you ready?" I asked throwing my bag over my shoulder.

"As long as I have you by my side." He smiled and followed me out of our old house.

000

I stared out over the counter at all our customers. Ever since we opened, we have been incredible busy. There was actually a line outside the door waiting for a table. I handed Iroh another kettle of freshly made tea and began wiping off the counter. It was about closing time and we had made a lot of money. I began counting the money as the last step of costumers left with Zuko locking up behind them. I spilt the money out into three stacks and handed Iroh's his. I placed mine in my apron and Zuko began counting his up.

"I should probably go to the market, huh?" Zuko's stomach began rumbling and he chuckled. "Alright, I'll be back with dinner soon." I snatched up a basket and walked out the back door towards the market. I swung the basket by my side and walked over to the first vender. I began looking over the vegetables and picked out three. I walked to the next one and froze.

Katara and the small earth-bender girl, who I found out was named Toph was shopping around. I brought some rice and stepped over to the meat vender. I wanted to get out here as face as I could before they noticed me. They didn't know Zuko and I had let their bison go, and I didn't even know if they knew we were here. We just moved on, we didn't need any drama. I ducked behind a buggy and listened as they looked over the meat that I was just looking at.

"Are you sure you want to leave?" Katara asked as she paid for a hunk of meat. "I have to. My mother wants to see me." Toph picked something type of chicken up and felt around at it. I had totally forgotten that she was blind. "Have you ever thought that maybe it was a fake letter?" Katara asked resting against the buggy that I was hiding behind.

"She's in the city. I just have to talk to her. You understand don't you?" Toph reached out and felt for Katara's arm. She finally grabbed her arm and squeezed it lightly. Katara smiled and rested her hand on Toph's small shoulder.

"Of course, I do. I guess I'm just sad because Aang is leaving to find that Guru and Sokka is going to look for dad. I'm just worried I'll get lonely." Katara said sadly looking down at the ground. They began walking off and I slowly stood up. I watched them disappear down the alleyway with my hand over my mouth. They were all going separate ways. I walked back over to the meat vender and brought a hunk of meat. He wrapped it up for me and I placed it in the basket. I ran all the way back to the house. I just had to tell Zuko. He would want to know.

I walked in and handed the basket over to Iroh. I walked quickly over to Zuko, who was lying out of the couch with a book over his face. I tossed it off his face and he sat up quickly glaring at me. "What is it, Harmony? I was sleeping." He grumbled kissing my forehead before lying back down.

"I just found out something." I muttered leaning forward. Zuko raised an eyebrow and smiled, "You're beautiful, you know that right?" I was so taken back that I just gaped at him. Did I really need to tell him what I heard? He had come so far, would knowing that they were all separating him completely destroy our relationship? All that it took. Did I really want it to crumble?

"What do you need to tell me?" He placed his hand on my knee and ran his thumb over my knee.

I smiled, "Nothing. Just that I love you very much." He smiled and kissed me on the mouth before lying back down.


	30. Chapter 30

Business was incredible. We were making more money than I ever thought. Iroh came rushing towards me and grinned. "We got invited to serve the Earth King at the Royal Palace." I snatched the invitation from his hands and stared down at the neat handwriting. It looked legit, but I just had funny feeling. Zuko leaned over my shoulder and told Iroh how excited he was. Iroh walked away to help some costumers that had just walked in. Zuko leaned close to my ear, "Do you have a bad feeling about this also?"

"Of course I do, but Iroh would never listen to us. We will just have to be on our guards. Now take this to table five." Zuko took the kettle of tea from my hands and walked away without muttering another word. I stared down at the invitation and bit down on my lip. About two days ago, I saw Katara run out of here after seeing us. I knew she had to be staying at the palace and wondered if this was all just a set up. We weren't bothering anyone. I was hoping that she would understand that, but if this was a set-up there was nothing we could do but to explain ourselves.

"Lily!" I looked up to see Iroh calling me. "Right away." I snatched up another tea kettle and walked quickly over to the couple that needed fresh tea. Iroh walked from table to table to make sure everything was going perfectly. I went behind the counter and began to start brewing some more tea. I was just about to handle the kettle off to Zuko, who just got another table when Iroh snatched me away. Zuko rolled his eyes and took the kettle walking away.

"Tell me what you think?" He asked quickly. He looked nervously at the new costumers walking in and I couldn't even fathom what in the world Iroh was talking about. "Should we go or is it a trap?" My eyes widen, Iroh was actually asking for my opinion on a matter that I knew he had already set his mind too.

"Why do you want to know?" I asked quietly as I watched Zuko rush to clean off a table. I felt bad that we had just left him on his own, but I was hoping he could handle it. "Zuko is paranoid while you are not and the look on your face made me think you weren't so sure of the…"

"UNCLE!" Zuko bellowed leaning over the counter. Iroh waved him off and grabbed me by the shoulders. I took a deep breath and told him about hearing Katara speaking about them separating, and then how I saw Katara running from our tea shop after she saw Zuko. Iroh crossed his arms and sighed, "Why have you not told Zuko?"

"You know why! He would run off and get himself killed. Look, Iroh" I glanced over my shoulder to see Zuko running around like a chicken with its head off. I needed to go help him, so I needed to end this conversation. "I don't know if this is a set-up or what, but it's worth a shot going. We could explain everything and actually help the Avatar!" Iroh smiled and nodded. He didn't say another word just dashed out of the back room rushing to help Zuko. I stood there stun for a while, what was happening?

Did I do the right thing?

000

"Uncle, what is taking so long?" Zuko hissed drumming his fingers against the table that was in front of him. I had to agree with him, something was wrong. We had been at the palace for an hour and no one had greeted us or anything. What was going on? "Patience, Zuko" Iroh said calmly.

"Iroh, I think he is right. Some…" The door opened and I about threw up when I saw who it was that was walking in. "AZULA!" I screamed standing up quickly. What was she doing here? How the hell did she get into Ba Sing Sa. Zuko grabbed my wrist and held me back. She was the one person I really wanted to kill. "I told you this was a set-up." Zuko hissed to Iroh. Iroh shrugged like it was no big deal and turn his attention towards Azula.

"Very nice to see you, Azula." Azula rolled her eyes and looked at her fingernails. Before I knew what was going on Iroh began his attack and I was shoved to the ground. The soldiers were knocked down and we took out of the room. Iroh blew a hole through the wall and jumped out. I stopped and saw that he landed into a bush. I sighed, I looked back to see Zuko staring down the hallway. "Zuko? Come on!" I screeched reaching for his hand.

He snatched his hand away from me and grabbed me by the shoulders. "Go." He took off down the hallway and I didn't think twice. I just raced after him. He was going after Azula and I knew he would need my help. He began his attack and was quickly taken to the ground by two hands of stones. I threw a fire kick at the soldiers and they flew backwards. I knelt down and tried burning the hands off of Zuko. Azula stepped forward and held her hand up at the soldiers to stop their attack.

"You would do anything for him, wouldn't you?" She chuckled and looked over her fingernails. "I love him. That's what love does to you." I hissed slowly standing up. I took my stance and she took hers as well. A ball of blue came towards me and I blocked it sending my own back towards her. She sent a fire kick my way and it knocked me over. I winced and held my side.

"Harmony! No! Get out of here." Zuko yelled as I tried to stand up against her again. I knew I could handle her, but I just didn't know for how long. She had the Earth King on her side along with his soldiers. They could easily overpower me. "Go!" I stumbled backwards and looked at him. He nodded stiffly and I turned running. Azula chuckled and I heard earth moving. I reached the hole just in time and jumped. A rock hand wrapped around my ankle, but I was already heading towards the ground. I landed in the bush and the hand crumbled. I gasped and stumbled to my feet. I saw Iroh rushing towards me and took off towards him.

I reached him and he wrapped his arms around me. He didn't ask me where Zuko was. He knew I could see it written all over his face. He didn't yell at me for not saving him, he knew and I knew I was overpowered. "We must find the Avatar. Hurry."

I swallowed and we ran towards the houses that were right next to the palace. It didn't take us long before we heard shouting and I heard Aang's voice clearly. I stepped into the room and was flung back by a gush of air. I grunted as my back slammed into the wall behind me. "Wait!" Iroh yelled holding up his hands. Toph rushed forward and greeted Iroh. "We need your help." Iroh said calmly. Sokka and Aang looked over at me as I tried refilling my lungs with air. This was the second time today that I had the wind knock out of me.

"She rushed onto us." Sokka yelled. "She's in pain." Toph said calmly. "I don't think she was trying to kill us." I was holding onto my side that I knew was burned by Azula and breathing heavily. Aang walked over to me and held out his hand. I grabbed his hand and he pulled me up. I held my hand tightly on my side and swallowed the pain standing up straight.

"Azula took Zuko and by the looks of it she took your little girlfriend." Aang's face blushed and Sokka laughed at the look on Aang's face. I saw how he looked at her. He loved her just like I loved Zuko. "Zuko is stubborn, but I know if we work together… We can both get them back. Please." I placed my hand on his shoulder and stood close to him, so that only he could hear me.

"Aang, I see the way you look at her. I love him just like you love her. Please, trust me." He nodded tightly and turned towards Sokka. "She is the only way we are getting Katara back. What do you two have in mind?" Aang smiled at me and Iroh, Iroh smiled back and winced as the pain shot through me. Sokka looked at me, but shook his head.

Aang and Iroh began to discuss what the plan was while I leaned against the wall in pain. I tried calming down my breathing, but I just couldn't catch my breath. "What's wrong with your side?" Sokka asked gently.

"Don't worry about it. I have had worse."

"You're bleeding." He whispered staring down at my side. I shook my head and pulled my hand away. I wiped the blood off on my pants and gritted my teeth together. "Like I've said, I have had worse." Sokka frowned and walked away. My main attention was on Zuko and how I was going to save him. My side could wait.


	31. Chapter 31

Aang flicked his wrist and a tunnel appeared. I staggered backwards and Iroh grabbed my arm steadying me. I was getting weak from the loss of blood, but that wasn't going to stop me. Sokka and Toph ran off to keep Azula busy while we looked for Katara and Zuko. I felt to start a flame with my hand and Iroh placed his hand over mine. "Leave that to me. Save your strength for the battle with Azula." I nodded and followed Aang into the tunnel. Every couple of feet Aang would flick his wrist causing the earth to go flying backwards.

"You must realize that Harmony and Zuko had no choice, but to chase you." Iroh spoke breaking the tension. I winced and turned around to glare at him. He may have thought he was helping, but he wasn't. He was just going to make things worse. Aang didn't say anything he just looked at me. "Zuko has good in him as well as Harmony. But I'm afraid Zuko has a more difficult time seeing that than Harmony." Aang stopped and looked at Iroh. I rested against the wall and took a deep breath. I was able to snatch a towel from the house and tied it tightly around my waist. They went to walk on and I slowly lifted up my shirt. My blood was leaking through it easily.

"We're almost there. Harmony, you alright?" I looked up at Aang, who had stopped and was watching me breathing heavily against the wall. "Fine." I pushed myself off the wall and walked towards them. "Harmony is a tough girl, Aang." Iroh said following me into the tunnel that Aang had just created. I noticed Aang glance down at the ground. I saw that my blood was dripping down my leg and onto the ground. I looked back at Aang and he was about to open his mouth till I beat him to it. "We need a new tunnel."

He walked forward and the wall exploded. We were a room now. A crystal room. I stumbled into the room and saw Katara standing close to Zuko. I felt anger flow through my veins and all I saw was red. I didn't know if it was the pain that was making me so crazy, but I just had a bad feeling on what had happened when we were gone. "Harmony!" Zuko pushed Katara to the side and rushed to me. He grabbed my face and his eyes widen when he saw all the blood.

"What happened?" He asked trying to pull my eyes away from Katara. "Nothing." Aang was glaring at Zuko while I was glaring at Katara. We met each other eyes and I knew both of us were biting back the jealously we were both feeling. Katara and Aang quickly left the crystal room. There was another explosion and in dropped Azula.

"Awe, I see I caused a little damaged to poor little Harmony." I growled and stepped forward. Zuko grabbed my arm and pulled me back. I wanted to cause her all the pain that she has given to me over the years. I wanted her to scream and beg for me to stop it, but I wouldn't listen to her. I would never and could never listen to her. I gritted my teeth as Azula began to talk about Zuko's banishment. Iroh made movement towards her and the earth kingdom soldiers standing behind encased Iroh in a crystal prison.

"Zuko! Don't you listen to her! Harmony is your life now and capturing the avatar isn't your destiny." Iroh screamed. Zuko looked back at me and then looked back at Azula. "I won't help you if you chose her side! I'll fight you if I have to." I hissed clenching my fist at my side. Zuko looked at me sadly before staring down at the ground. Azula rolled her eyes and left the room. Within seconds I heard her attacks on the avatar and stared at Zuko. Iroh wouldn't meet my eyes; he kept his eyes on the ground.

"Harmony."

"I don't want to hear it!" I screamed. Zuko flinched and finally looked up. I saw it written all over his face. Azula had con him yet again. Just like she always seems to do. I turned away from him and heard his retreating footsteps. I turned back around and saw he was gone. I walked over to Iroh and released him from his stone prison. "I'm going to go protect the avatar. Are you with me?" I asked me as he stretched out his back.

"Yes. I suppose you want to take on Princess Azula?"

"Oh yeah."

000

I jogged into the room right as the avatar was hit with lighting. I growled and rushed towards her. I punched her in the face and she stumbled backwards. Iroh began his attack on the soldier and I stood in front of Katara who was cradling Aang's body in her arms. "You're protecting the avatar! He is good as dead! He's your ticket home, Harmony!" Azula yelled.

"You and I both know he was never my ticket home!" I screamed as Zuko stared at me wide eyed. She jerked her head back and threw a fireball at me. I easily punched through it and she smirked. I turned around and stared down at Katara, "Get him out of here! We will hold them off the best we can." Katara nodded and took off with Aang in her arms. I rushed towards Azula and began my fiery attacked. Any soldier that stood in my way was turn to dust in a matter of seconds.

I ran off of anger. The angrier I got the more powerful my bending got. Every fire punch and kick I threw at her, she would deliver it right back. Iroh had given into the soldiers the second Aang had escaped. I wasn't going to let Azula off that easy. "Harmony! Keep going with your heart." I nodded at Iroh and continued my attack. Finally Azula grabbed me around the neck and slammed me into the wall behind me. I gasped and she held up her hand that was engulfed with her blue fire.

She was going to end my life right here and now.

"No!" Zuko ran forward and grabbed her wrist. Azula growled and tightened her hand around my neck. I gasped out for any air I could capture in my lungs. "What is the meaning of this? She has betrayed you! You loved her and she went against you to save the avatar!" Azula screamed. Zuko kept his grip on her wrist and I chuckled. She whipped her head around and stared at me. She slowly loosened her grip on my neck and I took in a breath. "You and I both know the avatar is good as dead. I haven't betrayed him. He has betrayed me and his uncle! He is doing this because he thinks he owes me a favor. Don't take this as a weak trait, Azula! Zuko is more powerful than you give him credit for." I yelled kicking her away from me. She gasped and held onto her stomach. She punched me as hard as she could and I crumbled to the ground. "Harmony!" Zuko rushed over to me and wrapped me up in his arms. If I wasn't so tired, I would have pushed him away, but I just couldn't do it.

"Shut up. We are bringing her to the Fire Nation. She is going to be my own personal slave." Azula stood up and nodded at the soldiers to take Iroh away. Zuko whimpered before he pulled me up in his arms walking after Azula. "Just because you saved me doesn't me I forgive you." I hissed as my eyes slowly rolled to the back of my head.

"I know. I just couldn't handle to see you get hurt." Zuko whimpered as he kissed my forehead.


	32. Chapter 32

"Prince Zuko?" The guard straightened himself up and opened the door. Zuko rolled his eyes and strolled into the bedroom. I was laid out on the bed. Bruised and angry. "How are you feeling?" Zuko asked me as lightly as he could. This was about the fifth time he has come to check on me since yesterday. The other times I had either screamed for him to get out or threw as much fire as I could at him. I was angry. I wasn't angry at the fact that he betrayed me and Iroh, oh no. I was angry that he let Azula so much as lay a finger on me. He broke a promise. Sure, it was a promise he gave me when I was eight, but it was still a promise.

"And why would you care? I am going to be Azula's personal slave… How do you think I feel? I just want to know when I am being sent back to hell", I yelled gritting my teeth. "We are leaving tomorrow morning. We want to make sure you will survive." Zuko hissed back with just as much anger. Why was he angry? He was getting everything he ever wanted. He was going home as a free man. I was not. I wasn't going to wallow in self-pity. I just didn't know how to control all these hated feelings, I felt towards a man I used to love.

_Used to._

Those words weighed down my heart. Could I ever forgive him? "Princess Azula wants to speak with you." A soldier walked in with Azula stepping into room behind him. Zuko growled and turned leaving the room. The rest of the soldiers left the room quickly and it was just me with that she-devil. She had her arms over her chest and a smirk on her face. "I finally beat you."

"Congratulation. I'm so proud of you." I said sarcastically clapping my hands together. "I suggest you show some respect towards me. I do control you now." She said strolling herself over to me. I gritted my teeth and stood up. I would be polite yes, but I wasn't about to bow down at her feet. She would have to kill me first.

"I ask for two things and then I shall do whatever you want from me." Azula tensed up, but slowly turned towards me. "Which are?"

"I get to meet with General Iroh whenever I want"

"Fine. What is the other one?" She asked twisting a piece of her hair around her finger. I smirked; she was not going to like this one. "You tell your father that Zuko killed the Avatar not you. You were being overpowered by her friend."

She glared at me and uncrossed her arms. "Why may I ask?"

"Because you and I both know that the Fire Lord wouldn't just take him back because he jumped to your aide. Give your brother a fighting chance." I stood up and limped by way closer to her. She smirked and walked away from me. She walked over to the window and stared out. "Why should I do these things for you, Harmony? We have never gotten on and why do you want to help Zuko after he betrayed you?" She did have a point, but I was going to be as evil as I could be.

"Zuko will always have my heart and I will protect him to my best ability. And you owe me Azula, I could've easily killed you right then and there, and you know I could've, but I didn't for my main reason was to protect Zuko. Don't test me now. I could easily get Iroh and me free, but I chose not to. The ball is in your court now." I crossed my arms and slowly watched her turn around. I maybe sweet, but don't you mess with my love ones.

Say goodbye to sweet and innocent Harmony and say hello to the biggest bitch, you'll ever meet. She chuckled, "Well fine. Now get dressed, we are having dinner soon." I raised an eyebrow and I glanced over at the desk. She strolled out of the room and I saw a Fire Nation outfit laying across the desk. I picked it up and gasped, it wasn't a maid outfit. It was an old outfit I used to wear while I was her apprentice. It wasn't an ugly outfit, it was a beautiful piece.

I quickly changed my bandages and changed into my new outfit.

000

I watched as Azula and Zuko waved out to the entire Fire Nation with smiles on their faces. They were welcomed back like nothing had never happened. I was completely ignored. I had a feeling Azula was the one behind that. I was standing towards the back waiting on Azula. Ty Lee and Mae were standing close to me. Mae was eyeing Zuko and I felt my heart drop. I forgot all about her and his past. Zuko and Azula walked back towards me. Azula threw her cloak at me and smirked at Ty Lee. Mae stared dreamily at Zuko, while Zuko was staring at me. He had pity written all over his face.

"Let's go, Harmony." Azula pushed me lightly out of the door and Zuko called out to me. I turned around and we locked eyes. Azula grabbed my arm pulling me down the staircase. I folded up the cloak in my arms and followed behind her. "Since I am doing those things for you, you are going to do something for me." I gulped; this wasn't going to be good.

"You stay away from Zuko. He has always cared deeply for Mae. It's time for you to step back and let them be. Understood?" I nodded and walked ahead of her to open up the next door. She smirked and patted me lightly on the back. Her words hit me like a ton of bricks. I wasn't going to get upset though. I made a promise to myself, no matter what happened between Zuko and I… I would be happy for him.

If he wanted to be with Mae, I had no right to stop them. Beside I was nothing more than a peasant now. I was a maid, Azula was my boss and I was lucky that the Fire Lord hadn't killed me the second I returned. I knew all I could was keep my mouth shut and hoped the Avatar was still alive.

Like always, he was my only chance of happiness.


	33. Chapter 33

Within a couple days of being back, Zuko and Mai were together. But the odd thing was that I would always catch Zuko stealing glances at me during meals or whenever I was remotely near him. What was really killing me was that he would hold, hug, and kiss her just like he did to me. It was like he knew just how to single handily destroy me in just a glance. They seemed to be happy and I made a promise to myself that I wouldn't interfere with his love life if he was happy, and beside I was forbidden to even talk to Zuko anymore by Azula. I sighed heavily and looked away from the happy couple. Azula stared over at me and stretched out her arms.

"Stop it, Harmony. The pathetic stares and the heavy sighing is just getting annoying", Azula said chuckling. I glanced back at the pond to see Zuko staring at us. I growled and glared up at her. She just had to be loud; she just wanted to make me feel uncomfortable. She grabbed my upper arm and winced as her finger tips collided with the large bruise on my arm from Ty-Lee. She crossed her arms and lazily strolled through the palace as I followed closely behind her with my head down. I kept my eyes on my hands and listened to her as she gloated about how wonderful she was at firebending. My hands were lightly burnt and cut.

The second I stepped off the ship I was ordered to go meet with the Fire Lord. He told me I would have a more difficult time than Iroh would. I didn't think that was possible since Iroh was behind bars, but he wasn't joking. I was literally being used as a human target when guards, soldiers, or anyone else in the palace wanted a duel. I was forbidden to use firebending. They said I was too powerful, so all I had was my quick feet and flexibility.

I was bruised from head to toe and Azula made it her life mission to make sure I didn't have too much food. I was always left weak and she loved it. It was literally like being in hell, the only time I really enjoyed life was when I got to see Iroh in the prison.

"You are on break. I am assuming you are going to go see my uncle?" She twisted a piece of her hair around her index finger and stared off into the distance. I tightly nodded and left without another word. I walked as quickly as I could out the palace doors and yanked up the hood from my cloak over my head. The guards at the prison all knew my father and still treated me like a human being. They even still called me Lady Harmony. The last time I was here they snuck me a piece of bread because I was looking far too skinny.

"Lady Harmony! General Iroh just finished his dinner. I'll escort you back if you would like?" I gave a tight nod and pulled down my hood. I kept my eyes down as we passed by a handful of other cells before we finally reached Iroh's cell. The guard pulled open the door and I stepped in. "General Iroh, its Lady Harmony for another visit." Iroh sat up and grinned as I walked into the room. I knelt down in front of the bars and he reached out placing a hand on my shoulder. I took a deep breath to control my emotions and looked up into his kind eyes. Seeing Iroh's face always warmed my heart, even though I had lost my father to this war I had also gain a father in Iroh. He was able to keep me going when all I wanted to do was to give up. I owe him my life.

"How is Zuko doing?" He asked leaning his head against the bar of his cell. I sighed, he was always asking about Zuko every time I came in. I knew he would never hate Zuko. He loved Zuko and that would never change. "He and Mai are together. They look to be happy. I would watch after him more but Azula has me busy and I have been forbidden to talk to Zuko." I shrugged my shoulders and stared down at my lap. I was trying to hide my face to avoid the questions of my broken heart. "He loves you. I trust that you know that."

"He's doing a horrible way of showing it." I muttered harshly. How could he do this to us? We have done everything for him and this is the thanks we get! How could I ever forgive for destroying my heart? I couldn't even think about that right now.

"He's going through a hard time right now", he leaned through the bars and placed his hand over mind. I bit down on my lip. I wasn't about to cry. I couldn't in front of Iroh. I had already cried in front of him once and I wasn't about to do it again. It was almost too much for him to even watch the bruises and the burns to grow along my body. I told him I could handle it and I wasn't about to break now. "You should start heading back. Your break has to be almost over." I gave him a tight nod and squeezed his hand before standing up leaving him behind. I walked quickly past the guards; I just wanted to get out of here. Today has been way to emotional.

I was almost to the door when an arm reached itself around me tightly dragging me away. I did the only thing I could think of and that was to scream. I knew the guards would come running and that's all I needed. I didn't have to strength to fight back. And there was just something about to warmness of the person that made me know it was someone I knew.

But that didn't stop me from struggling against my attacker. "Calm down! It's me, Zuko!" He let go of me and closed the door to the break room shut behind us. I slapped him so hard across the face that he stumbled backwards and my slap echoed throughout the room. He gingerly rubbed his cheek and stared down at the ground. "Don't you ever do that again", I hissed through clenched teeth.

"Sorry, it was the only way to get you to talk to me. I wanted to make sure you were alright."

_Bullshit_

"Won't Mai get angry that you are speaking to me? And besides I am forbidden to speak to you", I spat out his name like it was venom. I was having the most difficult time trying to keep my emotions in check. I could already feel the tear threatening to leave my eyes. His face softened and he stepped towards me. He reached out and brushed his fingers against my boney cheek bone. I stumbled backwards and gritted my teeth, "Don't do this!"

"You know I love you, Harmony." His voice was shaking along with his hands. He looked like he was going to burst into tears at any moments. "Aren't you happy with Mai?" I asked swallowing my nerve.

"Honestly?" I nodded and he sighed. "No."

"Why not?" I was almost at the door. I didn't know how much of this I could take. Azula told me I was not too interfered with their relationship or Zuko would lose everything. But I had also made a promise to myself that if Zuko wasn't in love with a girl that I would win him back and by the look on his face, he looked miserable with her. "She's not you. I could never replace you." He closed the gap between us and planted his lips firmly on mine. All I kept thinking about was that these were just on Mai's. I jumped backwards and shook my head. "I can't do this."

I took off out of the room. Even if Zuko was miserable with Mai, it was better than Azula making him miserable. So I was going to stay away from him just like she had told me to. It was the only way to protect him from Azula and his father.


	34. Chapter 34

I began picking up Azula's clothing that was lying all over the floor of her room. I hated this. I didn't want to be her stupid maid. I shouldn't have to be doing this. All day I have been staying clear from Zuko. It was better if I didn't see him after what happened yesterday. It would be way too much and I made a promise to myself. This was for his own good. This was my chance to protect him and I not being around was doing the perfect job. I rested the laundry basket on my hip and opened her bedroom door walking towards the laundry room. I was about half way down the hallway when I saw Azula talking to Ty Lee. Ty Lee yelped and placed her hands over her mouth staring at me. I raised an eyebrow and looked at Azula.

"So, have you heard?" She asked twisting her hair around her finger. "Nope", I muttered gripping tighter onto the basket. I just had a gut feeling, I wasn't going to like where this was going. She just had this look on her face that let me know that. "Zuko went to see Uncle after you did… And apparently Uncle refused to talk to him so Zuko had a fit." My eyes widen and I looked away from her. Iroh was just talking about how I should forgive him and then he refuses to talk to him. What was going on in Iroh's head?

"What did you say to Uncle?" Azula asked twisting her hair again around her finger. "I didn't say anything. Iroh and I just talked." She shrugged and smirked over at Ty Lee. "Zuko won't talk to Mai, so we want you to find out what was said."

"What? You told me I wasn't allowed to speak to Zuko." I was wondering if this was some type of trick and she was waiting for me to fail miserably. I placed the basket down on the ground and crossed my arms. She nodded her head down the hallway and I walked off. I glanced over at them and Azula was watching me. It looked as if she was waiting for me to take off running in the opposite direction, but I wasn't about to give in. I walked over to his bedroom door and lightly knocked on the door. I heard a muffle and pushed open the door. Zuko was standing over by the window staring out with his arms crossed.

"You talked to Iroh?" I asked gently closing the door softly behind me. I rested up against it and crossed my arms. "He wouldn't speak to me."

"What did you expect, Zuko?" I asked, I mean really, did he think Iroh would welcome him back with open arms. No, Iroh was angry. He was angry because Zuko had lost his path and he was also angry that he wasn't protecting me. "I suppose you're right about that. I just needed to talk to him. I should be happy and I'm not." He muttered leaning his head against the window.

"He can't exactly give you words of wisdom when he's locked in a cell." I hissed. The more I was speaking to him, the angrier I got. Iroh should have yelled at him and told him to leave him alone, but no he just gave him the silent treatment instead. He was just being too nice to Zuko.

"And I suppose you are angry at me as well. Then why the hell are you checking on me!" He yelled pushing himself off the wall and stormed over to me. I pushed my back up against the wall and took a deep breath. He was in my face and I was staring up at him. "Why did you turn me down?"

"You are with Mai."

"But I love you!" He yelled. "Prove it." I raised an eyebrow and pulled the door open storming out of the room. I heard a frustrating cry and chuckled. I always knew how to piss off Zuko and I really did enjoy it. A little too much. Azula picked up my basket and tossed it to me. "Well?"

"He wouldn't tell me either." I lied. I knew exactly what Zuko said. He didn't even have to tell me. I already knew. I turned my back on her and started down the hallway. I heard her chuckled and rolled my eyes. She had to realize I was lying or was she that completely stupid? Zuko probably went in there bragging what was happening and then asked why he wasn't happy. That would have made Iroh happy, but he wouldn't show it. Iroh had his own plans on breaking out. He hasn't told me, but I knew he had a plan.

I kicked open the door to the laundry room and placed the basket down on the table. "Princess Azula's?" The elderly lady asked and I just nodded handing her the clothes. She walked out of the room and I began placing Azula's clean clothes back in the basket. I heard the door opened and turned around to see Mai standing there playing with one of her daggers.

"Lady Mai?" I bowed my head and gritted my teeth together. "Stay away from Zuko."

"Excuse me?" It was time to play dumb. I knew exactly what she meant. I knew the second I stepped into Zuko's room that Azula would run off and tell Mai that I was spotted walking out of Zuko's room. She probably even threatened Ty Lee not to utter a word. And I knew Ty Lee would never speak out against Azula's wishes. She wasn't that dumb.

"Why were you in his room?" I sighed, it was time to lie my ass off and I just hoped that Zuko would just go with it. He must realize after Mai stormed into there and started questioning him. "Listen, I was asked to go in there. Zuko and I have no romantic feelings for each other what's so ever." I went back to placing Azula's clothes into the basket.

"Who asked you?" She snapped. I wasn't about to tell her that Azula told me because she would never in a thousand years believe me. I picked up the basket and placed it on my hip. "Why don't you ask your boyfriend? I don't have time for you questioning me. Have a good day." I bowed my head and heard her huff before I left the laundry room. I shook my head and handed the basket off to the maid that was heading towards Azula's room anyways. I really didn't want to see her. I had already missed dinner and I was now off officially. I walked out into the courtyard and sat under the tree that Ursa would always sit with Zuko.

I rested my head back onto the tree and took a deep breath in. I was anger, bitter, and depressed. That couldn't be a good combination. I wish I was back on the ship with Iroh and Zuko. Life was so much easier then. "There you are." I looked up and saw Zuko.

"You shouldn't be talking to me." I muttered looking back at the pond. He sat down next to me and sighed. "Sorry, she came after you like that. I told her that I had called you in there." I smiled; I knew he would figure it out. Zuko wasn't dumb.

"I should've known that was what Azula wanted." I muttered picking up a pebble and tossing it into the pond. "I'm sorry she's making your life miserable." He muttered. I shrugged and stood up, I really didn't want Mai walking up on this.

"I'll get used to it. Besides it was the deal we made." He raised an eyebrow and stood up quickly. "What deal?"

I winced; I shouldn't have opened my mouth like that. "Ask your sister."


End file.
